His Personal Assistant
by NorthernLights17
Summary: Bella Swan, personal assistant to handsome, rich, successful Edward Cullen, decides to take her friends advice and make her oblivious boss fall in love with her. AU/AH.
1. Prolouge

**Okay, so this idea has been in my head for ages, because I really like the idea of Edward in a suit and tie, and what girl wouldn't want to work for him?**

**Review and tell me how shockingly bad this is on a scale of 1 to 10.**

**Don't own anything related to Twilight, though, like everyone, I dream of owning Eddie :)**

**

* * *

BPOV.**

_My lust-addled brain swiftly reached a conclusion; his jeans most definitely needed to come off._

Now.

_The top button was undone, his snail trail running from his bellybutton and disappearing down, like an arrow pointing to the Holy Grail. The prize in question was currently straining against its confines, and the idea that it was I who did this to him made me writhe underneath him._

"_Please…" I begged, because this was what he had reduced me to._

_My hands were captive above my head by one of his; every inch of his body was strategically plastered to my naked form, pinning me to his bed and creating a delicious friction when he shifted. Turning me into a begging, blubbering mess underneath him with the skill of an artist._

"_Please what?" He spat down at me._

_The cords in his neck were strained, his bronze hair was damp, his lips were swollen, his nostrils were flared and his eyes were black as pitch. His face would have been frightening if he hadn't spent the last forty minutes kissing, sucking, biting and licking every inch of my naked body. As it was, I knew he was simply trying incredibly hard not to unzip a little bit more and plunge himself into me._

_Which was a mite inconvenient considering that was exactly what_ I_ wanted._

"_Please…please…" my arguments, which seemed so coherent in my head, came out in garbled whimpers. "I'm ready now…"_

_He raised himself slightly, making sure my eyes were on his hand as he lowered it to his jeans. He stopped with his palm flat against his bulge._

"_You're ready now?" He questioned darkly, and I nodded in response, eyes still fixed on his hand. When he started roughly rubbing himself through his jeans I heard myself moan, without any conscious knowledge of making the sound._

"_I'm not sure I believe you. I've spent all night convincing you – rather eloquently, I feel, how much I want you. You remember my arguments? The ones where I used me teeth, and my tongue, and my fingers?" He was hissing at me, barely managing to get the words out as his hand continued to rub up and down his length._

_I nodded more emphatically this time, looking up to meet his intense stare with a desperate one of my own. He ignored my frustration and finished, "and all you can say in response is "I'm ready now"? Try a little harder."_

"_I want you inside of me," I rasped shamelessly – because if this was what I needed to say to get to the Holy Grail – then say it I would. And just in case that didn't work, I pulled out the big guns; the words I know would get him every time. "I want you to make me yours."_

_His eyes, if possible, became darker. His breathing, heavy before, picked up now until he was panting against my cheek. He leaned in until his forehead was touching mine and I heard his zipper being lowered._

"_Baby," he snarled "you_ are _mine." His tongue ran over my lips in an animalistic gesture of possession._

"_But seeing as you don't seem to realize it yet, I think I can spend a couple more hours _drilling _the message in…"_

And then my alarm woke me up.

My sheets were twisted around me, my sticky hair falling into my eyes and my heart hammering away in my chest.

"Well, _crap._" I had a serious, serious problem.

I was dreaming about Edward Cullen – an issue most likely faced by the entire female (and possibly some of the male) population of New York.

Don't get me wrong; dreaming about Edward shouldn't necessarily be a bad thing. Who wouldn't want to spend their night thinking about that bronzed-haired God touching them? To think about him looking at you so possessively and intensely it could burn a hole through your heart?

But when I had to come face-to-face everyday with the literal man of my dreams, it became something of an issue.

Especially when I was Mr. Cullen's Personal Assistant, and he was my oblivious boss.


	2. Caffiene Fix

**It's actually one thirty in the morning Down Under, and I have no idea how this Beta thing works so forgive, well, all of the below.**

**

* * *

BPOV.**

As with every other morning, I had to give myself a pep talk before work.

I was sitting in the cab of my red 1953 Chevrolet Pickup, steaming cup of coffee in one hand, in my parking space at Cullen International Corporation, muttering under my breath like an honest to gosh nutcase.

"Isabella Marie Swan, you're lucky to have this job. So what if your boss is sexy as hell and clearly has no idea you exist? Just be glad you can afford the rent."

This was a valid argument. My lifelong friends, Alice Brandon and Rosalie Hale, had picked a fairly expensive converted warehouse as home. I would have been happy moving in on my own, but Alice had taken a pact (made at five years-old) to move in together _very _seriously. And when Alice took something seriously, surrendering to her wishes was the safest option.

The three of us were all twenty, and while they were both in their final year of studying, my business degree allotted a year of work experience between the second and final years of studying. My grades had been good enough that I had won a mediocre secretarial position at CIC. I spent the first two months of work experience as Edward Cullen's _third _Personal Assistant, running around after his dry-cleaning and coffee, and having no direct contact with the boss besides the occasional polite smiles in the hallways.

While that may have been satisfying enough for someone else, especially considering the generous paycheck, it frustrated me that my studies weren't being put to use. Cullen International was in the middle of a power transfer; its CEO, Carlisle Cullen, was trying to step down, dividing responsibility between his three sons, Edward, Jasper and Emmett. With each son implementing new business strategies, shuffling staff around, and generally bringing the company into the modern age, I knew I could have more impact then making Mr. Cullen's morning double-shot espresso.

However, any of the ideas I pitched to Lauren Mallory, Edward's Second Assistant, were ignored, so I chose to ignore her back. I uploaded a program that would filter emails, contacts and appointments with increased efficiency without her permission.

Needless to say, Lauren took the credit, but when there was a problem with the computers and First Assistant Angela Weber asked Jessica to set up the program again, the truth came out. It wasn't long before Lauren was negated to the tenth floor, and Angela and I became a team.

She would broker all personal contact with Edward, and I'd spend my time updating all the business systems that had previously been in place. By the end of another month, I had increased the productivity of the office by 45% and Angela was in her third trimester and looking to begin her maternity leave.

When I found out that not only had she suggested to Edward that I take over as his main Assistant (without telling me), but that he had "readily agreed" I had spat coffee halfway across my desk.

And now, sitting in my truck four months after beginning work at CIC, one month after becoming Edward Cullen's Personal Assistant, and two hours after having a vivid dream where he pinned me down and planned to take my virginity, I knew I was in trouble.

I spent everyday pining after my boss, not just because he was gorgeous, but also because he was incredibly smart. The man was twenty-four, had graduated three years early and was already more then capable to co-run a billion dollar company – and from what I could tell was also extremely fair and kind.

But my pathetic crush was even worse because, clearly, it was unrequited. Edward had never treated me with anything but professional politeness. He was a fair but demanding employer, and though he would make the required small talk, he always kept things strictly work related.

My previous pep talk about being lucky to have the job was forgotten, and I banged my forehead against my steering wheel in despair. It did nothing to help, except now I was pretty certain I'd have a headache. Apparently, I couldn't even do angst properly.

"Pathetic." I mumbled to myself, cradling my now sore head in my hands. And as if to prove my point, there was a respectful rap on my window.

"Miss. Swan?" Edward Cullen's velvet voice sounded concerned, possibly wondering why I was hunched over like an idiot.

_Another perfect start to a perfect day_.

I straightened up to see him wearing a navy blue suit, a stark white shirt, a blood red tie, and a politely puzzled expression.

_And looking sexy as hell, don't forget that_, I reminded myself sarcastically. Like I could ever bloody forget. He was leaning against his silver Volvo, in his parking spot right next to mine, his expensive brief case in one hand.

Just another way Edward was the perfect employer – he had allotted parking next to his own, and allowed use of his private elevator, for myself and my Second Assistant, based on the logic that we spent half our time organizing his office anyway.

I quickly took my coffee and handbag in one hand and reached for the door handle. He was there before I could, wrenching the rusting door open for me. I cringed at the sound it made but shot him a quick smile.

"Thank you, Mr. Cullen."

He smiled brightly at me in response (though how he could manage to be so chipper at 6:45 in the morning, not just this one – but _every single _morning – was beyond me) and waited for me to precede him to his lift. We walked with a meter between us, and the only sound was the clicking of my heels on the concrete until we got into the lift.

"Was something the matter with your head?" He asked as he stabbed the top-floor button and looked at me mildly in the mirrored doors.

That was how he always looked at me – mildly, politely, and indifferently. No wonder my subconscious conjured a possessive, dominating Edward in my dreams – because the idea of him looking at me with something other the professional distance in his green eyes would be a freaking miracle.

I blushed, as I thought about my dream, grateful that he would think it was in his response to his question, and then quickly blurted an answer. "No, no, that's just what I'm like before I get my caffeine fix."

"Hmm, well I suppose there are harder substances to be addicted to then caffeine," he responded, in such a contemplative tone that I couldn't help but make another quip.

"Sure," I agreed, as we stepped off the elevator, "That's what my dealer tells me."

The stupidity of my joke made me internally wince, but I could have sworn I heard him snort in response behind me.

**

* * *

If you actually made it to the end of this crappy chapter please review so I have motivation to write about seducing Edward!**


	3. Little Lamb

**So I wasn't supposed to have any lemons in this chapter, but dominating fantasy officey Edward is totally doing it for me, so here goes nothin'.**

**

* * *

BPOV.**

"_Miss. Swan, could you step in to see me please?" Edward's velvety voice came through the intercom and I could just make out the anger in his otherwise muted tone._

_When I came into his corner office, I had to squint against the bright morning sun filtering through the glass panes behind his mahogany desk. Edward, leaning back in his leather desk chair, was barely a silhouette against the suns glare, though I could just make out his elbows on the armrests and his fingers steeped in front of him._

'_Yes, Mr. Cullen?' I asked nervously. I knew he would want to talk about our unfinished business last night, no doubt blaming me for his being unable to "claim" me._

"_I spent the entire night hard as stone for you, and how do you repay me? By ignoring me all morning." His voice was matter-of-fact, calm, which was even worse then if he were shouting. It was a scary-calm, a calm-before-the-storm calm, and I knew I would have to appease him quickly._

"_I'm sorry, sorry! I didn't mean for us to get interrupted – please, I'll make it up to you."_

_He was still lost in shadows, so I couldn't see the reaction my words were having on him. After an eternity, he spoke._

"_Yes," His voice was no longer calm, but low, gritty._

_Dangerous._

"_You most certainly will. Walk around the desk and kneel in front of me."_

_I did as Edward asked – commanded – and he pushed his chair back so I had room to sink to my knees between him and his desk._

"_You're going to do exactly what I tell you to, understand?" I nodded, licking my lips. His eyes closed when I did that, and I knew I'd pay for teasing him when he clearly wanted me so badly._

"_Lean forward, unzip my pants, and un-tuck my cock. And don't you fucking look away." I kept my eyes fixed on his as I expertly leant forward and unzipped pants. He was commando underneath, and it didn't take much encouragement for his erection to spring free._

_There was already pre-cum leaking out, and I automatically rubbed the fluid around his swollen pink head. Edward's hip bucked violently when I did that, and he snarled, "I don't recall telling you to do that, Miss. Swan."_

"_S-sorry, Mr. Cullen. What was it that you wanted me to do?" The lust that had his eyes in slits made me feel suddenly embolden, and I added in a throaty whisper; "did you want me to suck on you thick hard cock? Is that what you want?"_

_He gave a strangled gasp, and then suddenly his hands were fisted in my hair and the tip of his cock was at my lips._

"_Open your mouth, take me in."_

_I did as he said, and he immediately speared his cock into my mouth, hitting the back of my throat. I took deep breaths through my nose as he began thrusting his length in and out of my mouth. All the while, he was groaning and swearing and muttering under his heavy breathing._

"_That's right…all of it…fuck…you hot little mouth…you're all mine…"_

_His hips started moving more jerkily when I began lightly scrapping my teeth down his length with each thrust, and I knew he was close._

"_Bella...fuck, gonna cum...you're gonna swallow every drop I give you...Bella...you're mine...Miss. Swan..._Miss. Swan..."

"Miss. Swan?"

I jerked upright in my chair, quickly lowering the pen that I had been unconsciously sucking on from my mouth.

This was getting ridiculous.

Not only was I dreaming about him, now I was carrying it on into daydreams. It was only seven in the morning, for fricks sake. Could I be anymore pitiable? I was seriously sitting at my desk, imagining Edward Cullen being mad that my alarm clock had woken us up from out imaginary sex last night, sucking on an inanimate object.

And was that really the fantasy a girl who'd never hit home base should be having? Sure, I'd covered all the other bases, but a girl who was essentially still a virgin (depending on semantics) shouldn't be fantasizing about kneeling behind their boss's desk and sucking them off. Shouldn't I be dreaming about making love to some Orlando Bloom look-alike with a sexy accent in a fancy hotel in Paris? What did this say about me?

"Miss. Swan?" Okay, clearly this _could _get more humiliating. I realized the thing that had woken me up from my fantasies was then man himself, leaning over my desk, waving a hand in front of my face.

"Right, sorry, Mr. Cullen." _Just like I was sorry we didn't get to the main event last night_. "I guess that caffeine hasn't kicked in yet."

He sent me a polite smile, but his eyes were fixed on my mouth with a little frown. Possibly wondering why I'd just been molesting my pen.

"Sorry. I know we get here rather early..." This was true. Edward was pretty much the first person into work every morning, and he generally required his first assistant to be there from the beginning of the day. While it wasn't exactly a pre-requisite, and he hadn't told Angela straight out, she had explained to me before she went on leave that Edward got more work done before eight then most of the office got done all day. It was simply easier to come into work early with him, rather then coming in an hour later and finding a stack of requests to backlog.

"Not at all." I waved away his apology, "was there something in particular you needed?"

Edward rarely, hell, _never_, stopped by my desk for a quick chat. That was despite the fact that my office was wrapped around his, a mini-foyer that he had to pass through to leave his office. Besides my desk, there was Edward's private elevator and a spacious area with modern low to the floor couches for his appointments to wait on. My second assistant, Jessica Stanley, had a cubicle in the open office floor space just outside.

"I need you" (_God, why couldn't his sentence just end there?) _"to find the Davison Acquisition files for my one pm lunch meeting."

I, somewhat smugly, reached under my desk and retrieved the file from my top drawer. I loved how well I worked with him; anticipating his needs before he voiced them. _I bet I could do that out of the office, too..._

"Already done. I presumed you'd need it yesterday. It'll be waiting in your briefcase before you leave."

He straightened up, smiling a crooked smile that did nothing to restore my equilibrium.

"What would I do wi–"

The glass double doors burst open; effectively ruining the compliment Edward was about to give me. I glared towards them, wondering who the hell could be here at this time in the morning to interrupt my moment. Then wondering how sad I could get that I was hanging out for purely work-related praise.

"Swan, I need your help!" Emmett Cullen's voice was not something one wanted to hear first thing in the morning. He strode over, completely ignoring his scowling brother, and sat down on my desk. I felt like Maxwell Sheffield in _the Nanny_, though I was pretty certain Emmett's voice was more annoying then Fran Drescher's.

"Morning Em. What'dya need?" Unlike Edward, standing on formality with Emmett would have felt incredibly wrong.

Jasper and he had befriended me my second day of working at CIC, when they'd rescued me from Mike Newton, the office flirt. Since then, I often ate lunch with one or both of them, mostly because they were great fun, but also because a small, in-need-of-therapy part of me liked having the connection to Edward.

"I need you to hook me up with that hot piece of ass you were with last night, youngen."

"Emmett!" Edward's reprimanding voice sounded from behind Emmett, whose wide shoulders were blocking him from my view. I could just imagine him running his hands through his tousled bronze hair in brotherly irritation.

"Chill, Eddie." Emmett didn't even turn around. "Now the girl in question was blonde, hot as all hell, you, her and a shorter chick were grocery shopping when I spotted you last night?"

I blushed at the idea of Emmett seeing Rosalie, Alice and I in Ugg Boots, leggings and sweatshirts, no make-up on and shopping for things like tampons, Head & Shoulders, and fat-free yogurt.

"Right, Rose, one of my room-mates. What did you have in mind?" I was weary, rightly so, when remembering some of the extravagantly over-the-top plans Emmett had had.

"Nothing dramatic, scouts honor." He virtuously placed a massive hand over his chest, not fooling me for a second. "I was just thinking you and your little roomies could come to Victory tonight with me and Jazz?"

He must have noticed the look of doubt on my face, because he added in a cajoling voice, "Bellie, Bellie, Bellie, VIP area of one of the hottest clubs in town, my fantastic company, what could possibly go wrong?"

I could think of plenty of things, not the least of which was the idea that Rosalie and him may actually hit it off, and I'd have to wake up to his booming voice in my apartment every morning, not just at work. Then there would be the white rage at the idea of one of my friends getting a Cullen when I obviously would never get mine.

"C'mon, I'll even make Eddie come along..." before _that_ statement could sink in, Edward had walked around so he was leaning over my desk again, frowning still.

"You most certainly will not get me to come along. And it's _Edward_. For the hundred-thousandth time." He turned to me and the frown softened slightly.

"Miss. Swan, please feel free to callously and emphatically turn him down. You're under no obligation to organize his social life."

I stiffened slightly, oddly offended by his words. I knew perfectly well he wasn't saying that Rosalie wasn't good enough for Emmett, or that he didn't want me anymore involved with his brothers then I already was, but that's how it sounded when processed by my irrational female brain. Not to mention, the idea the he "most certainly" didn't want to go to a club if he knew I was there stung.

I gave Edward a slight upwards tilt of my lips in recognition of his words, and then gave Emmett a full-blown grin.

"I'll do it if you promise NEVER to call me Bellie again and if you actually listen to the tips I'll give you about Rose at lunch. Otherwise she'll eat you alive."

"YES. Deal!" Emmett punched a fist in the air and patted my head like a dog. Mission then accomplished, he got up, throwing a muscular arm around Edward's slighter shoulders.

"Sure you don't want to come with your _little lamb _here, Eddie?" He asked in a conspiratorial voice. Edward's eyes widened in what looked remarkably like panic at Emmett's words, but before I could be certain his calm facade had returned smoothly.

"Positive, thank you." Edward's voice was icy as he steered Emmett to the doors. "I'll walk you to your office, Emmett, there's some business I'd like to discuss with you."

Emmett gave a raucously loud laugh, and I think I hear him reply, "I just bet there is," before the doors closed behind them.

_Now, what in the hell was that all about?_

Whatever it was, when Edward came back, he looked like he wanted to kill someone and that that someone was Emmett. He swept through my office without glancing at me, the doors to his inner office shutting with a snap behind him.

A minute later my intercom beeped, and I tried not to fantasize about Edward inviting me in to suck on his cock like a giant lollypop when I answered.

"Yes Mr. Cullen?"

"Miss. Swan, hold all my un-urgent calls until my one pm."

"Of course M-" But he had already hung up.

Alrighty then.

I guess he didn't like me agreeing to go out with Emmett when he clearly hadn't wanted me to.

When I asked Emmett to confirm this at lunch, and asked what he'd said to annoy Edward, he merely gave me a mysterious smile (which is saying something, considering Emmett is the least mysterious person I knew) and told me "not to worry my pretty little head about it".

I spent the rest of the day ridiculously anxious that Edward may be upset with me, though I knew, rationally, I had done nothing wrong and that he didn't care enough about me to be mad I was going out with his brothers.

Edward didn't talk in anything but clipped, one sentence orders until after five-thirty, when we were organizing his next weeks schedule and sorting through this weeks invitations and meeting requests – our Friday night ritual.

I was getting up from the couch in his office, invitations and Mac Book in hand, ready to leave, when he leant back on his side on the couch and said, "Goodnight, Miss. Swan. Have fun tonight."

I couldn't believe how hard my traitorous heart beat at just his casual dismissal, and I determined that I most definitely _would _be having fun tonight.

Because tonight, I was going to employ his brothers, and my friends, in my newly developed, Help-Bella-Seduce-Her-Boss Campaign.

**

* * *

So how do you think the campaign will go? I have a feeling it's gonna work like a charm :)**

**I'm a review whore so…yeah. Gimme, Gimme, Gimme? **


	4. Victorious At Victory

**I really, REALLY, didn't want to use the word "pixie" when describing Alice, but I couldn't help myself.**

**Also, its one am again in Aus, so excuse the spelling, grammar, and general crappiness. **

**

* * *

BPOV.**

_Tonight, I was going to employ his brothers, and my friends, in my newly developed, Help-Bella-Seduce-Her-Boss Campaign._

Victory Night Club was exactly what one would expect from the Upper East Side. It was _Post_-Post-Modern, dark, moody, and smoky, and all we had seen of it so far was the line outside and the ladies room.

Alice and Rose had been more then happy to go to one of the most exclusive clubs in town courtesy of two of the most eligible bachelors in the world, and we had agreed to meet the guys at their exclusive table in the VIP area.

Or, at least, we would have, if it weren't for the fact that I had dragged both of them into the toilets the minute the bouncer let us through.

"I thought there was some billionaire daddy's boy waiting to get in my pants?" Rose asked irritably, staring at my reflection. The three of us were lined up in front of the vanity mirrors, though how our Alice coordinated dresses, hair and make-up could be improved on was a mystery.

"Geesh, Ro," I interjected, momentarily deterred from my original topic for discussion, "give the guy a chance before you shove your Marxist boot up his ass. He's one of the sweetest people I know."

She gave a very un-ladylike snort for someone wearing baby pink. "Yeah right, as if he doesn't think I'm just going to crawl all over his rich ass. C.R.E.A.M, Bella. Just cause you don't believe it, don't mean it aint true. Cash Rules Everything Around Me."

Alice huffed on the other side of me, and poked her tongue out at Rosalie. Rosalie was studying the detrimental impacts of living in a Western Capitalist consumer society, while working part time for a left-wing newspaper. Alice was studying to become fashion designer while working part time as a personal shopper for Chanel. Needless to say, I often felt like Switzerland between the two of them.

"Anyway," I said loudly, before Alice could do more then stick her tongue out, "I brought us in here for a group huddle."

Now they were both looking at my reflection expectantly. I rarely called a group meeting, mostly because my love life was sadly lacking. _Except when I fall asleep and imagine my boss pounding into me like an animal on his bed...focus, Bella!_

"Remember how I may have mentioned once or twice my incredibly small, slight, teensy practically platonic interest in Mr. Cullen?" I asked, as if this were a throw away question of no real importance.

Rosalie simply rolled her eyes, but Alice chirped, "Bella, you've definitely mentioned it once or twice...in the last ten minutes. Since you started working there, you've mentioned it so many times that if I have to hear how dreamy Edward Cullen is one more time I'm going after the guy with a shot gun and a shovel." I couldn't help but laugh at the idea of a pixie like Alice trying to off anyone.

"Not to mention the loud orgasmic dreams we've got to hear you having every night." And then Rosalie started to scream at the top of her lungs, "OH GOD YES! EDWARD, YOU FEEL SO GOOD! DO ME HARDER YOU SEX–" I clapped a hand over her mouth as a group of girls by the hand dryers giggled.

"So clearly you get my point," I hastily said, and then the next words came out so fast that if they weren't like my sisters they would have had no clue what I'd said. "I-want-to-seduce-Edward-Cullen-and-I-need-your-help."

Alice started to clap her hands together hysterically, and I half expected her to begin chanting, "Hercules!" over and over. Rosalie merely raised a smug eyebrow, and I knew she was about to remind me that when I had first mentioned how much I liked Edward, she had told me to straddle him in his swivel chair and ride him like a cow girl.

"I'm calling best friend code that Al, you've got to tone the excitement down, and Ro, you're not allowed to say, "I told you so"".

Both of them looked like I'd just taken away their favorite toys, but they loyally, and sullenly, nodded.

"Good, now the issue is, I know I'm gonna need Jazz and Em's help, but I don't want them to know I'm standing in the bathroom like a psycho announcing my plans to seduce their unsuspecting, and definitely uninterested brother. So any ideas on how to broach the topic with them?"

Rosalie and Alice caught each other's looks in the mirror, and then they were simultaneously linking arms with me. Their evil smirks made me _very _glad they were on my side.

"Firstly, Bella, congratulations on having the confidence to even admit that you want to do this. I wouldn't have suspected you had it in you, and we're very proud."

"Yeah, Bella, who knew a few frustrated horny little dreams could channel your inner sex fiend to the surface?"

"Thanks, Rose." I shot at her sarcastically, but I knew it was her was of saying she was proud of me too.

In truth, I couldn't believe I had said anything, either. It was just I was so annoyed at the polite distance Edward always kept me at, like he barely saw me as female, let alone someone he could ever be interested in. But today, when he had been mad, I had so wanted him to go _back_ to the polite distance. Then when he had, giving me a cool "Good Night" it had felt like winning the lottery. And seriously, reacting like that to his every mood change was just plain sad.

I wasn't going to be sad, dammit. But, since I wasn't brave enough to declare my feelings straight up, the obvious conclusion was to make him come to me.

Alice grinned wickedly at me, seeing the determination blazing in my eyes.

"Don't worry, Bella, by the time we're done with you, Edward Cullen is going to be eating out of the palm of your hand."

* * *

It was another two hours before either Rose or Alice brought up Edward.

Though this night had been about Emmett getting to Rose, there had been an instant connection between Jasper and Alice. He was quiet, contributing little to the conversation, but he smiled and listened attentively to everything Alice said, and had spent the entire night dancing with her.

To my surprise, Emmett had followed my directions about how to act around Rose to a T, and it was working brilliantly for him. When she had walked into the VIP area, Emmett hadn't looked lower then her neck. Every time Rose made a contribution to the conversation, Emmett immediately disagreed with whatever she said. No matter how obvious she was, he didn't once check out her body. When she had suggested he dance with her, he'd kept the dance so friendly they could have been brother and sister. By the end of an hour, Rose was so frustrated I was surprised there wasn't steam coming from her ears.

An hour after that and three Cosmo's later; Rose was sitting in Emmett's lap. I was wedged next to him, with Jasper and Alice facing us, when he grabbed my forearm and muttered so I could just hear him over the music, "you're a setting-up Queen, youngen."

I laughed, but was really hoping that he'd return the favor. Rosalie had apparently heard what he said, and had been thinking the same thing, because she casually asked, "So why isn't the other Cullen brother here tonight?"

Alice's head snapped up from whatever she'd been whispering in Jasper's ear, paying attention now there was a friend in need.

"Edward had some...issues...of _control_ to take care of this evening." Emmett and Jasper snickered for some inexplicable reason at Emmett's answer.

"Oh, that's a shame," Alice said in the same casual tone as Rosalie's, "because Bella here would have really liked to grind against him on the dance floor."

I started choking on the mouth-full of Margarita I had been swallowing. I saw Emmett and Jasper shoot each other an oddly hopeful look through my coughing fit, but I didn't take time to analyze it through my anger at Alice.

"What the fuck, Alice?!" I mouthed at the fucking traitor, but she just smiled brightly at me, like she'd just done me a favor or something. _Kid's to-fucking-day. Where the hell had the subtly gone_?

"Really, Bella? Got a little thing going for our esteemed brother, do we?" Jasper teased me.

I glared at him, and then at Emmett, who was smiling at me gleefully. Not, oh hey, the sun is shining and it's going to be a beautiful day gleeful, but a shark that's just spotted a bare bottom in the ocean gleeful. Crap.

"If either of you so much as _think _about bringing this up wit–"

"_Actually_," Rose interrupted my threat, "you know how Bella isn't the kind of girl to just throw herself at Edward, so we were wondering if either of you had any tips, just between us, that might help her in...snagging him?"

I wanted to crawl under the table and die. It was only the copious amount of alcohol in my system and the remnants of my determination from earlier that kept me seated.

Surprisingly, Emmett and Jasper weren't laughing about how I would never in a million years have a chance with Edward. Instead, they were both looking thoughtful.

Finally, Jasper leant across the table and asked in a very serious voice, "Bella, you wouldn't consider just making the first move on Edward, would you?" He paused, as if weighing his next words very carefully. "It might save quite a bit of time."

I stared at him blankly, unsure what he meant by that last part, and horrified as I considered the embarrassment of being turned down by Edward.

"God, _no_." I gasped, shuddering at the mere thought of living out that humiliation.

Emmett peered around Rose and warned me, "It'll be hard to get Eddie to make the moves on you first, Bells."

"Yeah, no-_dah_. Like I didn't already know he wasn't attracted to me. That's the part where you two come in, obviously."

Emmett looked surprised at something I'd said, but the seriousness in which Jasper and he had considered Rose's plea for help had faded. "Alright then youngen, time to offend your delicate sensibilities with Edward and Sex 101."

"Meaning?" Alice and Rose looked like they were poised to take notes, and I hoped they were listening carefully, because I had limited-to-no experience in these matters.

Emmett chuckled, rubbing his hands together to show he meant business.

"Meaning, were gonna talk Edward – specifically, Edward's sexual predilections. We'll start from the porn he had as a kid, move on through the girls he dated in high school, on to the one night stands of college, to the women he dates now. By the time we finish, you'll no how to act out every sexual fantasy that boy's ever had."

_Holy shit_.

I had a feeling my dreams tonight were going to be epic.

**

* * *

Hmmm, wonder why Emmett and Jazz are being so secretive?**

**More importantly, I wonder how Edward will react to Bella living out his every fantasy? **

**I'd love if you'd review. **

**Even a smiley or frowny face would totally do it for me! **

**I get off easy ;) **


	5. Spank Me

**Posting at one am Aus time _again_. Boyfriend thinks I have insomnia and am obsessed with this "Cullen Dude".**

**Told him if he kept the attitude up towards my Eddie he'd have to sleep on the couch.**

**_He _****told me that would be preferable to me squealing like a twelve year old girl every two seconds while writing this, and that no one's reading it anyways.**

**Just wanted you to know what I'm going through to get this out! So review and annoy the boyfriend please!**

**

* * *

BPOV.**

I heard the elevator arrive behind me, and I bent over my desk, pretending to be shuffling through some documents.

The skin tight, high-waisted skirt I was wearing was riding up around my thighs, barely covering the g-string I wore, with knee high black stockings straining against my flesh. That fantasy of what would happen when Edward found me in this position ran through my head for the thousandth time.

_Though the plush carpet muffled his footsteps, I was hyper-aware of Edward coming up behind me – and furthermore, he knew that I knew he was there. Though he didn't touch me, I could feel his hand ghosting around the curve of my ass._

"_Good Morning, Mr. Cullen," I said in a voice so calm I deserved an Oscar, "did you have a pleasant weekend?"_

_Abruptly, I felt his hand come down on my ass, a hard slap that made me jump in surprise. Then I saw, out of the corner of my eye, him drop his brief case next to my desk in preparation._

"_How on Earth was I supposed to have a pleasant weekend, Miss. Swan? When I knew that what is _mine _was being paraded around on Friday night?" his voice was as calm as mine, but I could hear the rage simmering underneath._

_I was confused by what he meant, and I made the mistake of trying to stand upright. Before I could more then attempt to move, Edward's chest was pressed into my back, his iron-hard forearms wrapped around my middle in an unbreakable embrace._

"_First you parade around at Victory in a dress that, my brother tells me, made you look "fuckable", and now you're trying to move without me telling you to do so. I'm going to teach you a lesson, Miss. Swan. Can you guess what it is?"_

_His hot breath on my ear was causing me to shiver, and when I took too long to answer he bit down on my lobe – _hard_._

"_I'm yours," I gasped at the pain and the arousal it caused. "That's the lesson – that I'm yours." He quickly sucked on the bite, easing the sting, before he stepped back._

"_Very good, Miss. Swan. Though, I'm afraid, that won't get you out of your punishment. Now take off that skirt and bend over the desk like a good girl."_

_Shakily, I lowered the zip of my skirt, stepping out of it and resuming my position. I heard him let out a low groan at the sight of me bent over in a g-string and knee highs, before his pale, long-fingered hand snaked into view, picking up the ruler off my desk._

"_Moan for me, Miss. Swan."_

_The ruler came down across my ass, hard enough that I felt the sting, but pleasurable enough that I felt liquid pooling in my g-string._

_He brought it down twice more, and by the third time, I had to bite my lip to muffle my moan. Edward paused, knowing I had held back._

"_You're going to defy me, then? If you keep that up, I'll hold off your release until you're begging me on your fucking knees."_

_The ruler was brought down six more times, and by then I was desperate to rub my legs together – anything to ease the throbbing between them._

"_Are you wet for me, Miss. Swan?"_

"_Ye-yes, Mr. Cullen." _That_ most definitely came out as a moan._

"_Hmm. Let's see, shall we?" Then he brought the ruler up between my legs and lightly spanked my clit._

_The moan I let out this time was apparently loud enough to satisfy him, because abruptly he was pressed over me, his hard length against my ass._

_I could feel his hand snaking along the inside of my thigh, and then two of his fingers were running up and down my slit through the soaking fabric of my g-string._

"_P-please Mr. Cullen." I begged, even as my hips bucked, trying to get his fingers to do something, _anything_, more._

"_Say it. Say it and I'll give you everything." He was placing wet kisses against the back of my neck as he spoke, and I could feel him rubbing himself against the curve of my ass._

"_I'm yours. Always yours."_

_The second I let out the declaration, he was spreading my folds, still confined to my g-string. He began rubbing my clit with the edge of his fingernail, a perfect mix between pleasure and pain. I moaned so loudly that they could probably hear me in the lobby, and began rubbing my hips in time with the strokes of his finger._

_His thumb replaced his finger on my clit, and then his finger was pushing my g-string aside and sinking into my opening. A second finger, and then the tip of a third, roughly joined the first, pumping in and out of me while still rubbing my clit with his thumb._

"_Mmm, you're so hot and tight around my fingers. I can't wait to feel you surrounding my cock."_

_His words, combined with him curling his fingers inside of me, was creating the wonderful building of tension in my stomach, and I knew I was close to climaxing._

_Edward leant in and whispered in my ear, "Good girl. Cum for me. Only for me."_

_Then he pinched my clit, and I was suddenly clenching down on his fingers, biting my lip so hard to keep from screaming that I drew blood._

_As I came down off my high, I registered that Edward was still rubbing against me, and I knew the pleasure was far from over. When I heard him fiddling with his belt buckle, my suspicions were confirmed._

"_Now, I'm going to pound into you while you're bent over this desk. And it'll be so hard you'll be seeing fucking stars."_

That's how the fantasy went in my head.

In reality, I heard the elevator open behind me, and I quickly began shuffling through the papers I was examining, nervous that maybe this was too blatant, but willing to try almost anything at this point.

I heard Edward step out of the elevator, and straining to hear him over the pounding of my heart, I heard him pause behind me.

"You're here early, Miss. Swan," he rasped. Was it the sight of me that made his voice sound like that? More likely he had gone out last night. I'd have to ask Emmett if I didn't die of embarrassment because of what I was going to do next.

I slowly straightened, just like Emmett and Jasper had described. Then I turned, flicking my newly washed, cut and curled hair over my shoulder.

"Well, I left something here I just _couldn't_ do without for a second longer," I quoted in the huskiest voice I could manage, hoping Emmett and Jasper had remembered properly. I think (though it was probably wishful thinking) that I then heard his breathing pick up.

When he didn't reply for a minute, I snuck a glance at him from under my eyelashes, trying to look innocent, and saw him quickly snapping his gaze up from my chest. The tip of his longue pink tongue darted from his mouth, running along his bottom lip, wetting it. I was concerned that I may spontaneously orgasm.

But more important then that:_ I think Edward Cullen was just checking me out. _I wanted to scream it from the rooftops, send it as an interdepartmental memo, get it tattooed across my freakin' forehead.

"Oh, what was that?" He growled, as if the words were coming out of his mouth of their own violation. This time, I had to curl my fingers into fists to keep myself from screaming in glee. _He was playing along_. He was actually playing along.

This is where I had decided I should deviate from script, purely because I didn't want to be _too_ obvious, and I most definitely didn't want him to realize I was getting help from his brothers. God knows; that would be the most awkward conversation in the history of ever.

"My phone, of course," I told him brightly, all huskiness left behind, a wide, innocent smile on my face. Hopefully, if Emmett and Jasper were right, I was leaving him confused but remembering.

He was staring at me so blankly that for a minute I thought he'd gone into shock. It was only when I cleared my throat and raised an eyebrow that he shook his head slightly and continued walking to his office. I was fairly certain he was actually _blushing_ too, but that was probably wishful thinking. Besides which, when he spoke next his voice was so calm I knew I had imagined it.

"Could you please send Miss. Stanley with a coffee when she gets in, and please get the conference call with London going in ten minutes."

I smiled another vivid, childlike smile at him as he reached his office, and then spoke in the most wanton, my-throat-is-sore-from-screaming-your-name voice I could muster.

"Is there anything else you _need_ from me, Mr. Cullen?"

There was a flash of something in his suddenly dark eyes, so quickly that I was unable to identify it. Then his face was perfectly composed and he was smiling tightly at me.

"No, that's all for now, thank you, Miss. Swan."

The second his door clicked shut behind him I was running out of my office and down the corridor. The open office area was empty, but I knew Jasper and Emmett had gotten here early for moral support.

There was no one in Emmett's office, so I sprinted to Jasper's, not bothering to knock as I barreled in. Emmett was sprawled across Jasper's leather couch, while Jasper was perched on his desk flipping through his missed calls. Before either of them could register that I was there, I was hysterically babbling.

"I did it! I owned that shit! When he came in I was totally leaning over my desk, I did the whole slow straightening up like you guys said, and then he was all "you're here early", which worked perfectly, so I said to what you told me to say, and he totally responded "oh, what was that?" back to me!"

By the time I finished I was gasping and bouncing on the spot in excitement and nerves. Then I realized that Emmett and Jasper were both staring at me with their mouths open and their eyes wide.

"What?" I asked, annoyed that neither of them had acknowledged my rousing success.

"You re-enacted the opening scene of the first pornographic video little Eddie ever watched looking like _that_?"

I looked down at my outfit, which Alice had put together based on what Emmett and Jasper had recommended. I was wearing a stark white shirt that hugged my breasts perfectly and had feminine little bell sleeves. The shirt was tucked under an incredibly tight high-waisted grey skirt, which ended a few inches above my knees. The illusion of modesty was maintained by knee high stockings, exposing a strip of flesh between where the stockings ended and the skirt begun. My hair was out of the bun I had been wearing to work everyday, and I had on a splash of red lipstick. To complete the look, I was wearing four inch black Monolo stilettos.

I thought I looked pretty fan-_fucking_-tastic, but if the look of shock on the guys faces was anything to go by, apparently not. I felt the thrill of success deflating like a popped balloon.

"So what if I did? I thought you told me he had a thing for Lois Lane as a kid? That's the look Alice was going for." I explained to them, somewhat defensively.

But Emmett simply cracked up laughing, and after a second Jasper joined him. "Jazz, man," Emmett managed through his laughter, "this is fucking perfect, can you imagine how "little" Eddie is doing right now?!"

I actually stamped my foot in frustration, and pushed Jasper, who was closest, in the chest. "Explain!"

Jasper let out two more dry chuckles before he wrapped an arm around my shoulder comfortingly. "Sorry, Bella, we weren't laughing at you, we were laughing at Edward. You look great, amazing actually. Sex on legs. In fact, you look remarkably like the girl from the video, so that's sure to have helped."

The first suggestion that Emmett and Jasper had had on Friday night was to re-create some of Edward's fantasies. Apparently, the first porn Emmett had introduced Jasper and Edward to was one that Edward had gotten _attached _to when they were young. The basic plot line was a schoolteacher spanking a schoolgirl, but the first few lines where about her being caught in his classroom during lunchtime, and her claiming she had come back for him to "punish" her.

When Edward had walked in to the office, I had literally acted out the first lines, and Edward had responded. It was automatic, but it was a start. At least he was associating me with something sexual, which was the ultimate goal.

"So Eddie responded then, did he?" Emmett asked, a delighted grin spreading across his face. He leered over-dramatically at me, eyes on my breasts. "Though how could he not? I mean, who knew you actually had tits?"

I rolled my eyes, "I _think _he responded, but I really don't know."

Jasper could sense how worried I was, because he gave me a squeeze with the arm that was around my shoulder. "Don't worry Bella; Stage Two of the Give-Edward-Blue-Balls-Till-He-Snaps Plan begins at lunch. Em and I can judge his responses then."

Right.

_Lunch_.

I was blushing just thinking about what we had planned. But, if Jasper and Emmett were right, it was going to be a longer day for Edward then it would be for me.

**

* * *

Oh yeah.**

**Lunch is going to be great fun.**

**I totally love torturing poor Edward (and "little Eddie", too!) and if you are review and…I'll buy you a cookie. Honest to God.**


	6. Sleeping Beauty

**Thank you, you totally pissed the bf off!**

**Just to warn you, am starting school again, so updates are going to go from everyday to about every 2-3 days. And don't make me feel guilty, that's a lot better the most!**

**And, remember, reviews=love & they give me the motivation to write this when I should be doing homework!**

**

* * *

BPOV.**

"_Don't worry Bella; Stage Two of the Give-Edward-Blue-Balls-Till-He-Snaps Plan begins at lunch. Em and I can judge his responses then."_

Emmett, Jasper and I had spent the entire morning using the CIC Intranet to chat about how things went on Friday night with Rose and Alice, and how we were going to proceed at lunch.

As with the porn re-enactment from this morning, I had my concerns about the validity of the plan. I had felt that the whole living out a porn thing was too obvious while the plan for lunch made me feel we were being too subtle.

I had messaged my concerns to Jasper and Emmett, and Emmett had charmingly replied:

"_Calm down, Goober. Most guys would be content with just a visual to spark off their imaginations. But with Eddie, being the brooding, I-think-I'm-such-a-tortured-artist-even-though-I've-had-a-Black-Master-Card-from-birth type, you're going to have to appeal to his mind as well as his...little Eddie...to get him going._

We'd synchronized our lunch breaks perfectly, so that it would coincide with a gap in Edward's meetings and appointments. I would have asked Jasper and Emmett if they had things to plan around, but I'm pretty certain they spent a goodly part of their day running around pulling pranks and not a helluva lot else.

I had gotten all of my things together when the guys came to get me. Though it wasn't necessarily "the" plan, we felt that me flirting outrageously with every man who _wasn't _Edward was a good idea. Jasper explained that this would appeal to Edward's "inner caveman", which according to him, was buried _very _deep under a stack of 5-figure Armani suits.

The idea of Edward going caveman, throwing me over his shoulder and dragging me off so he could stake his claim on me, was something that featured many a time in my fantasies. Therefore, when Jasper practically pinned me to his side and dragged me into Edward's office, I didn't put up a fight.

Edward was hunched over his desk, sleeves of his sky blue shirt rolled up; tie loose, studiously flipping through a report with a pen tucked behind his ear. Tucking a pen behind his ear was something he always did when he had to make notes or corrections on a document, and it was something that I – _of course_ – found bloody adorable. In all honesty, the man could be a closet cross-dresser and listen to the _Jonas Brothers_ and I'd still find him freakin' perfect.

When we came in, Edward sat up straight to see who was there, and his eyes immediately zeroed in on the hand Jasper had on the side of my hip. His gaze was only there for a second before it flickered up to my eyes.

His eyes boring into mine made me blush, and I had to suck my bottom lip into my mouth, biting it, to keep from squirming away from Jasper's hand. It was like I felt _guilty _that his arm was around me just because Edward gave me a pointed look – which was insane.

Edward's gaze lowered to my bottom lip momentarily before he abruptly turned to his brother.

"What can I do for you, Jasper?"

Jasper rolled his eyes at Edward's formality, which I knew was only for my benefit. Both Emmett and Jasper had said Edward was far less "stick-up-the-ass" when he was away from his employees.

"Just thought I'd let you know that I'm steeling Bella here." He paused there deliberately, letting an uncomfortable silence linger, before adding, "for lunch, of course."

"Of course." The reply was curt. But Edward, who was of course one of those people who could have an entire conversation just through his facial expressions and eyes, seemed to convey a message to Jasper silently while I watched on. He looked frustrated about something.

What ever the communication entailed, it made Jasper smirk slightly, while leaving me completely nonplussed and Edward looking even more frustrated.

"Brilliant." Jasper said winningly, using the hand on my hip to steer me to the door. "We're just going to be in the restaurant with Em if you need anything. Let's roll Bella, apparently Edward doesn't mind lending you out."

The second we had joined Emmett in Edward's elevator I whirled on Jasper. "Lending me out? You make me sound like a by-the-hour hooker!"

Jasper let out a sound that was suspiciously like a snort. "Actually I made you sound like Edward's property." He and Emmett exchanged knowing looks at that. "_Trust me_, appealing to Edward's possessiveness is the angle you want to be going for."

"And what was with the look you two had in there?" I asked, not done questioning him.

Jasper just grinned, patting my head like I had just rolled over or played-dead. It was annoying habit both he and Emmett had whenever I was amusing them.

"Relax Bella, just brother stuff." I wasn't sure I believed him, but we had reached the fifth floor, where there was an employee restaurant we occasionally frequented when we couldn't be bothered going out for lunch.

Once we'd gotten into a booth and ordered, Jasper and Emmett immediately began subtly, and then outright, begging me for Rose's and Alice's numbers. I was under strict instructions not to give them out until Wednesday, so that I could "gage their level of eagerness and attentiveness" for the girls.

We had been sitting there for half an hour, and we were starting to worry that the plan wasn't going to work. Outright inviting Edward to lunch when he had never shown any inclination of wanting to join us before (and when we had never offered) obviously wasn't going to work.

So instead Emmett had purposely omitted some details from a report he had sent Edward, knowing that he would need them. I was flattered that Emmett and Jasper were such good friends that they were willing to go to such trouble for my silly little idea. Though, when I'd given them my very embarrassed and slightly drunk thanks on Friday, they had just laughed and told me that it was "worth it to mess with Edward".

Finally, Emmett's mobile phone rang, and he waggled his eyebrows at me before checking the called Id. He didn't answer the call.

"Ah, predictable Eddie. Falling right into my trap like a little lamb to the slaughter house." Jasper and he cracked up at that, though I didn't get why it was so funny.

After they'd finished laughing their asses off they gave me encouraging grins and slid out of our booth, Emmett's phone still ringing.

"Good luck, Bella." Jasper actually gave me the thumbs up, like I was a kid on the first day of school.

"Yeah, and if there are any confidence issues, remember that your tits are looking great in that top."

"I'm telling Rose you said that!"

They were already walking away when I called after Emmett, but I'm pretty certain he heard when I saw his massive shoulders flinch. Both he and Jasper were going to hide a discreet distance away so that they could watch. I wasn't too happy about that, but they assured me it was a good idea for them to judge Edward's responses. I was pretty positive they just wanted to laugh at me.

I pulled out the novel I had started on Saturday morning, trying to calm the automatic blush as I skipped to my bookmarked page.

I was actually slightly immersed in the novel when I felt the butterflies in my stomach, which was my spidey-senses telling me that that Edward was close. I felt, rather then saw, his eyes scanning over the busy restaurant, before he was suddenly striding over to me.

"Sorry to interrupt you, Miss. Swan, but is my brother here? There's some information I urgently need from him. " He asked, giving the hidden cover of my book a quick glance.

The guys had told me that Edward was one of those people who loved to know what books people were reading, so I knew he was dying to ask what it was.

"They just went out on a coffee run. They'll be back in a minute if you'd like to sit and wait for them?" I gave Edward a smile as bland as buttered toast, knowing he probably thought I was bi-polar when just this morning I had been giving him the sex voice.

Edward hesitated, and I looked back to my book, mentally rolling my eyes. _Just sit Edward. It's not like I'm some crazy-woman who spends all her free time dreaming about you, or who actively plans to catch and possibly devour you. Oh wait..._

Edward finally slid smoothly into the booth opposite me, looking distinctly uncomfortable to be there, running a hand through his hair. I gave him another courteous smile to show him I wasn't going to bother him, and turned down to my book.

Hopefully Edward _was _one of those people who like to know other people's reading habits (just like I loved to know people's music habits, I mentally swooned at our likeness) otherwise I'd have to casually flash him the front cover of the book in the hopes of getting a response.

Luckily, he'd only been there for a minute before he suddenly blurted, "What're you reading?"

I glanced up at him, ignoring the way my heart sped up at his perfection only a foot away, and said casually, "Anne Rice."

Could he be anymore adorable? Edward was practically squirming in his seat, obviously wanting to ask me to elaborate, clearly not wanting to be rude, while trying to catch glances at the cover.

"Which one?" He finally asked in a defeated tone, plainly not liking having to pry.

"It's one in a series she wrote under the assumed name A.Q. Roquelaure. _The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty_." I was praying to any deity that may be listening that I wasn't blushing.

As I spoke I saw Edward's green eyes darken, and his Adam's apple bobbing as he swallowed. Oh yes, I was definitely appealing to his mind...and his imagination.

"Any good?" He croaked out quickly.

I shrugged lightly, looking him straight in the eye as I replied, "I guess. But really, there are only so many times you can use the word phallus before it loses all meaning, you know?"

Edward couldn't have looked more shocked if I suddenly told him I was the reincarnation of Elvis. It didn't last for long, however. His face quickly smoothed, and his eyes narrowed as if he was plotting something sinister.

"No, actually, I wouldn't know. What's the book about?"

_Liar._

I knew for a fact that Edward had studied this very book, along with its two sequels, during an "interpretation of modern sexuality and pornography" class he had taken as an elective in his first year of university. I knew because Jasper and Emmett had told me to read the book in front of him. We'd been hoping Edward would see me reading it and it would be another way for him to associate sex with well…_me_. I had not, however, been expecting Edward to pretend he hadn't read it and then ask me to describe the freakin' plot.

What did that mean, anyway? Deciding to dwell on it later, I leant forward, my arms crossed under my breasts.

"It's about how instead of Sleeping Beauty being awoken by a kiss, she's awoken by her Prince Charming taking her virginity in an act of dominance. Then she's made to live as his sexual servant, there to cater to any desire he has." I leant even closer, and I noticed that he was unconsciously doing the same, his eyes fixed on my lips.

"It's really about all the ways a person can be sexually dominated..." I licked my lips, as if contemplating my next words. A thrill shot through me, making my lower body throb, when Edward's tongue ran along his bottom lip, mirroring my movements. "...Or sexually pleasured. Basically, it's about how when you give someone knowledge over what gratifies you sexually, you give them power over you mentally, physically, emotionally. You _belon_g to them."

By the time I finished talking, we were leaning so close together I could feel his cool, delicious breath on my cheek. I was sure he could feel my gasping breath on his cheek, too.

Adorable was no longer how I'd describe him.

Adorable was how you described kittens or little kids.

Edward Cullen was _smoldering_.

There was so much heat in his gaze I could actually feel my body warming too him, melting for him.

He abruptly closed his eyes, breaking the tension between us. I could see his fists clenching and unclenching, his mouth pressing into a hard line. It was like he was fighting some internal battle.

I didn't want to push him too far, and I knew if I sat opposite him any longer I wouldn't be able to stop myself from burying my tongue in his mouth. Therefore I reluctantly rose to my feet, picking up my book and the bottle of water I'd purchased with lunch.

I plastered on a smile identical to the bland one from earlier, and told him in a calm tone, "Well, Mr. Cullen, I'll leave you to wait for Emmett. I should get back and make sure Miss. Stanley is okay without me."

His eyes still hadn't opened, but as I moved to get out of the booth, his hand quickly lashed out, grabbing my wrist in a vice like hold. I gasped at the electric charge I felt when his skin touched mine, and I couldn't remember a time since our introductory handshake four months ago that I had felt his touch.

Edward's eyes opened, and I couldn't help but gasp again. If I thought he was smoldering before, it was nothing to how he was looking at me now. The cords in his neck were strained, his nostrils were flared, and his eyes were black as pitch.

He looked like the Edward in my dreams.

"Wait." He ordered in a low, heavy voice. Heavy with _what _I didn't know, but whatever it was I could feel myself becoming wet in response.

Before he could expand further, Emmett and Jasper were suddenly there, looking between us with equally delighted and curious eyes. Emmett had the coffee he had purchased earlier to show Edward evidence of his coffee run.

"We're not interrupting anything, are we?" Jasper's question was directed at Edward, and again I noticed that his eyes were conveying something more.

Whatever that something more was, Edward was missing it, because he was still staring right at me, his eyes silted. Slowly, almost reluctantly, it seemed, Edward released my wrist. His fingernails lightly (purposely?) scraped my skin as his did, and I could feel a burn from where he let go.

He had been holding onto me _very_ tightly.

"No, you're not interrupting anything, Jasper." Edward said slowly, articulating every word carefully as if he was trying to focus. "I was just waiting to speak with Emmett."

I smiled brightly at the three of them, though Edward's eyes were now firmly fixed on Jasper and Emmett, so he didn't see.

"I'll just be heading back to the office, then." I told them all, fighting against the impulse to touch the skin that was still tingling from his hand.

As I walked away, I thought about the inner struggle he seemed to be having, when he had closed his eyes as if to block me from view. Then for the first time I wondered if there was more to his indifference to me over the past four months then I had originally thought. Either way, there were three things I knew for certain.

One, I was incredibly, head over heels attracted to Edward Cullen.

Two, there was a part of him, and I didn't know how large that part was, that was attracted to me too.

And three, when I got home tonight, I was definitely going have to relieve myself of the sexual tension he had created.

**

* * *

**

**So the book Bella mentions is "Sleeping Beauty" by Anne Rice, and I actually had to study it briefly in a class on modern interpretations of sexuality and pornography.**

**Great times.**

**And I will be explaining all these little meaningful looks and double meanings that the brother's hotness seem to share in a future chapter.**

**What did you guys think? Reviews=Love, remember?**


	7. Defeat?

**So I just realized that I had Bella and the girl's drinking/clubbing in an earlier chapter, and I totally forgot that the drinking age is 21 in America (you poor things!), so I'm calling creative license for all past and future boozing.**

**And your reviews were awesome, and I was totally squealing like a little girl when I read them! Now I'm basically at a point where I'll write faster the more people review. Hint hint.**

**Oh, and just to give you some more motivation, EPOV is going to be coming up soon, so the more you review, the sooner you can learn what's going on in that pretty little head of his.**

**Um, this chapter basically has one big lemon that is in no way related to the plot, because I can't help but write em'.**

**

* * *

BPOV.**

I was grateful when I got home from work that neither Rose nor Alice was back yet. My lunchtime incident with Edward had left me feeling – mind the cliché– hot and bothered.

It was one of the only times I regretted I was a virgin – because I couldn't take up Rose's offer to buy me a vibrator. Even sexually-frustrated-Bella wasn't willing to lose her virginity to a piece of plastic. Despite that, I jogged through our open plan apartment, making it into my bedroom and slamming the door shut behind me, resigned to a little self-maintenance to release my tension.

I shimmied out of my skirt and pulled open the front of my shirt before dropping onto my bed. After I'd left the brothers at lunch, Edward hadn't come back to the office for another half an hour. When he did he was perfectly composed, even a little relaxed. He didn't mention what had happened earlier and neither did I. But I had been turned-on the entire day, remembering the intensity with which he had looked at me.

Now, lying down on my bed, I could still _feel _his gaze on my lips; still feel his hand on my wrist, so hard it felt like he never wanted to let me go. I quickly brought one hand up to twist a nipple between my fingers, the other down to run under my g-string and between my folds. I was so swollen and wet already that my hips immediately lifted towards the pressure.

I trailed some wetness up from my opening to my aching bundle of nerves, and when I twisted my clit in time to the fingers playing with my nipple I let out a breathy sigh, that came out as his name.

"Edward."

Because, try as I might to deny it, I couldn't find anything but frustration unless I was imagining him touching me, owning me. I brought my other hand down from my breasts, a moan escaping me as I pushed one finger into my tightness.

And I took my mind where it needed to go.

"_You shouldn't have teased me at lunch like that, Miss. Swan. Do you realize that?" Edward growled,_ _standing naked at the foot of my bed. His erection was bobbing arrogantly at full attention as I lay spread out for him, rubbing circles around my clit._

_His eyes were fixed unerringly between my legs._

_When I didn't say anything he walked around to the side of the bed, so his leaking cock was right above me. "You. Will. Answer. Me."_

"_I realize that, I'm sorry, I'll never bring up the book again, please just touch me." I hastened to reply, my breathing hard and labored, as was his. Edward stared at me, contemplating my response._

_Then, making sure I was paying attention, he lowered the palm of his hand to my sweat-slicked breasts, cupping one. He rubbed the heel of his palm down against my pebbled nipple, and I arched towards him. Then, torturously slow, his hand ran down, over the plane of my stomach, until he was at my hip, just to the side of my mound._

_I couldn't believe my luck that his hand was finally on me, and I blurted, "thank you, thank you, please don't stop."_

_I looked up at him and realized my luck had never actually existed. His face was cold as his hand grabbed mine, pulling my fingers away from my clit; he guided me down and manipulated me so one of my fingers was entering my opening._

"_Add another finger." The command was sharp and angry and I obeyed at once. He leant down, smacking his palms flat on either side of my face._

"_You don't get to cum until I tell you to. Do you know why that is?_" _I knew the answer; I had given it to him a thousand times. This time it was obviously a rhetorical question, because he leant in further, until he was speaking against my lips. "Because that wetness between your legs...mine. Your orgasms...mine. Your pussy...mine."_

_I moaned at that, but the sound was muffled as he shoved his tongue passed my lips, controlling me with it, stabbing in and out. Edward pulled away when I was dizzy with the need to breathe and he retreated to his position at the foot of the bed._

"_Spread your legs wider." I did so straight away, unable to question anything that velvet voice told me to do._

_Edward roughly grabbed his cock as he watched me, pumping up from the base, running his thumb over the slit at the head, dragging back down the shaft and then repeating._

"_Move those fingers faster, Miss. Swan." I sped up my fingers, curling them as they went in, desperate for any kind of release._

"_Are you wet for me, Miss. Swan?" I could only nod in response, watching with heavy-lidded eyes as he knelt on the end of the bed, still palming his cock._

"_Good." And then he was kneeing my legs apart, dropping down so his body was flush over mine, most of his weight held up by his forearms. His hand snaked down and roughly pulled my fingers away. Edward made sure I was looking him in the eye as he sucked both digits into his mouth, lapping up my juices. He released them from his mouth, lowering himself so he was breathing against my ear._

"_Wrap those pretty fucking legs around me, and lock your ankles together."_

_I did as he asked, sobbing in need when I could feel the tip of cock at my entrance. Edward rubbed himself up and down, gathering my wetness, before he hastily took himself in one hand and held onto my hip with the other._

_He locked his heated eyes with mine and warned me, "I'm going to make you understand now. I'm going to _own _your body, your responses. I didn't like seeing you in my brother's arms today, and I don't want to see another man touching you ever again." The hand on my hip squeezed, almost painfully, and I realized it was the exact spot Jasper had touched me when we walked into Edward's office._

_While that distracted me, Edward suddenly jerked his hips forward, breaking through my barrier and sheathing himself inside me. I writhed with the stinging pain, and he placed wet, open-mouthed kisses over my face in comfort._

_He was waiting for me to adjust, but I could see the strain that remaining still cost him in the way his jaw was locked, a muscle ticking in his cheek._

"_You're so fucking tight. You feel amazing." His rasped confession made me feel so aroused that suddenly my hips jerked upwards, meeting his with the sound of skin slapping against skin._

_Edward muttered a "fuck" before he slowly pulled all the way out of me and worked his way back in. I was so tight he had to wriggle his hips and grind into me before he was fully inside. He did it twice more; eyes clenched shut as if he were in pain, before I let out a screaming moan on the second thrust. At that sound, any control he seemed to have shattered._

_His hips sped up and one of his hands shot out to brace against the headboard. With every thrust he was grinding down, working me into the mattress and making me gasp his name._

_His eyes snapped open, locking with mine, looking at me so possessively that when I saw his mouth open to speak, I just knew the words that were going to come out would be "you're mine."_

_But they weren't._

"_I'm yours," he promised me, panting against my cheek, and then ducking his head to bury it in my collarbone. Hearing him say that made my stomach roll, and I could feel my inner muscles clench around Edward as I suddenly saw stars. A second later and Edward went rigid above me, jerking inside me as his warmth released._

I had clenched down on my fingers, gasping for air as I rode the high of my fantasy. But I knew I had a problem. I didn't just _want _Edward.

I was in love with him.

I _really _didn't want to be in love with Edward Cullen. I mean, just because I saw him everyday at work didn't mean I knew anything substantial about the man. I couldn't recall one personal thing he'd ever told me about himself. Everything I knew about him, such as his porn habits and a detailed list of every girl he'd ever screwed (and it was a _long _list), I had learnt from his brothers.

Rose was working late to meet a deadline, so when Alice came home I recounted my day and told her my little issue of being in love with Edward. Minus the part where my epic masturbating fantasy had led to said revelation.

"So what if you're in love?" Was her brilliant response, as she flittered in and out of my wardrobe, picking out my outfit for tomorrow. She had me propped up on my pillows, the new "Scarlet" colored red nail polish drying on my toe and fingernails and my hair in curlers. I felt like I was living in the 50's, where a woman had to prepare her face, hair and brassiere the night before. Being hot was friggin' exhausting.

"_So what_? Um, how about the fact he barely acknowledges the fact that I am a sentient being with a vagina? And the fact that _I _hardly know the dude? We're not even on a first name basis! This whole seducing him thing is never going to work."

Alice emerged from my closet, with a towering pair of Mary Jane heels in one hand. She could see my panic, so she plopped down on the bed next to me and looked at me very seriously.

"Okay, so you know how on Friday night I was dancing with Jasper all night?" I nodded an affirmative that I had in fact seen their mating ritual on the dance floor. "Well I thought it was odd how he asked you if you wouldn't just consider making the first move. So I asked him what he meant by that. He basically told me they had been talking about something with Edward and you were brought up. And when they asked, Edward confirmed that he was attracted to you, but that he wouldn't want to abuse his position of power by ever doing anything about it."

While this was great news, and made me feel all tingly and happy, I couldn't help but feel it wasn't that big a deal. It was more a, _sure Miss. Swan is sort of attractive, but I much prefer her answering my phone then getting her off_.

Regardless, it was still better news then I expected, so I thanked Alice and promised to continue with the plan. Even though it wasn't just my body that was eager, it was my heart.

By Friday, I was completely disillusioned.

The small bubble of optimism I had had after Alice talked to me was gone.

Though I was still being dressed by Alice, today in red dress that was conservatively cut but that showed off all off my curves, I had abandoned any plans I had. They obviously weren't working. For them to work, Edward would have to be in a room with me for more then two seconds without me wanting to punch him in the noggin.

On Tuesday Edward had come to work at 7:30 (particularly late for him), given me a small nod to acknowledge my existence, and had immediately encased himself in his office. It had its own private bathroom/closet area, so it shouldn't have concerned me that he didn't leave until 3pm for a staff meeting.

But it did bother me. I couldn't help feeling he had done it deliberately, to avoiding seeing me. His terse intercom demands only added to this feeling of paranoia, but when I asked Emmett and Jasper, they had both faithfully promised that they hadn't told Edward anything about our scheming, and that they were as clueless as to his behavior as I was. They suggested I try again tomorrow.

By the end of Tuesday, his demands were starting to sound like orders from a drill-sergeant, and a small bubble of resentment began to form in my stomach. Not only that, but he had me completely re-order the rest of his schedule for the week, a task that had me staying back until after 8pm. It didn't escape my notice that the new schedule was done so that he was either out of the building for as long as possible, or that people were going to his office without him having to leave.

I tried not to think too much of it until he came late again on Wednesday, completely ignoring my morning greeting. The only admittance I got to show he knew I was there was a searing scowl that raked from my toes to my head, making me feel naked in my tight plaid dress. Confirmation of all of my suspicions came when he made me run some meaningless errand during a stint where he was in the building.

Edward was actively trying to avoid me.

The sting of rejection had washed through me, though I knew this was ridiculous. I hadn't made any overt moves on him, for exactly this reason. If Edward avoiding me when I hadn't told him my feelings was making me feel like crap, then I couldn't imagine what it would be like if I _had_.

On Thursday Edward had become outright hostile towards me, and whenever I caught a glance at him he looked like he was ready to explode. His jaw was tensed, his mouth in a thin line, his hair standing on end due to his fingers gripping it, his eyes hard and intense.

I'd had enough by then, and when he ordered me to complete a task on the _other side _of the city, I snapped.

"Okay, _Mister_ Cullen," I spat through the intercom, placing emphasis on the "Mister", as if I doubted he was one, "if you think Miss. Stanley is qualified enough to operate the system you need set up for the Davison meeting at 12pm, then by all means, I'll go. After all, it's not my companies _billion_ dollar deal in the pipeline."

I heard nothing except his heavy breathing on the other end, and I instinctively knew he was trying to control himself. Though I was clueless as to why he abruptly felt the need to do so around me.

When he spoke next, his voice was so calm that, though it was a scary-calm, I still felt like I was Alice, tumbling down the rabbit hole. "Fine, Miss. Swan. You set up the Davison meeting and send Jessica out."

So now, on Friday, it was with nothing but frustrated confusion that I viewed the elevator. Edward stormed out before the doors were even half way open, and this time I was used to his lack of greeting and his eyes sweeping over me, bottom to top.

It was the first day I hadn't said anything either, instead just continuing to type and waiting for him to go into his office so I could intercom him his missed calls. But when Edward was striding past my desk, he did a double take, abruptly turning around and glaring pointedly at the bouquet of freesias on my desk.

Jasper and Emmett had sent them to me for giving them Alice and Rose's numbers, and for then suggesting where to take either girl for their first dates tonight.

And now Edward was sneering at me like I gotten them for selling my body to the highest bidder.

"For future reference, Miss. Swan, you can flirt when you're not on company time." He told me caustically. I would have panicked that he knew about me try to get into his form-fitting Armani pants, but he was looking at me in a way that suggest I was a slut, not that I was specifically flirting with him.

Outrage made me smile the sweetest, most overly sugary smile I could summon. Without looking up from my typing, I replied in a honeyed voice, "right you are, Mr. Cullen. Let's just hope your brother can remember the same thing."

I heard him give a low growl under his breath, and when he slammed the door of his office behind him, it shook so hard I was surprised the glass didn't shatter.

Edward spent another day actively avoiding me, and, to be honest, I did the same. My earlier epiphany that I loved him was confusing the hell out of me every time I ran into the new and moodier Edward. It was clear I knew _less_ then nothing about him, because I had no explanation for his current behavior, except perhaps that he woke up on Tuesday morning and had randomly decided to treat me like crap all week.

At the end of the day, I knocked hesitantly on his door, my Mac in hand; ready to go through his schedule for next week like always. I was kind of looking forward to this return to normalcy, the two of us sitting on his couch and working in sync together.

When I got no reply, I knocked again, a little less hesitantly then before.

"What?" Even snapped through the door, his question managed to covey complete and utter anger. Taking that as the least polite invitation to enter he'd ever given me, I smoothed down my dress and came into the room.

Edward had taken off his tie and was putting things in his briefcase, not bothering to look up at me when I entered.

"Would you like to start on next weeks schedule?" I asked him, unable to keep the irritability out of my voice. He finally looked up, eyes darkening when they noticed the freesia I had tucked into my hair just to spite him. He looked down again, closing the snaps on his briefcase, and his next words were cold and unfeeling.

"Do it yourself."

This was the worst rejection he had dealt me all week. I don't know why – he was never more personal with me on our Friday night ritual then he was at any other time.

Perhaps it was just because when we sat down on the same couch, going through things as a team, it sometimes made me feel like an married couple; sorting out who should take the kids to soccer practice and who should get the car detailed.

Perhaps it was the newfound knowledge of my feelings for him, or my admitting out loud, to his brothers and my friends, that I wanted him. That they had given me hope that one-day it might happen.

Whatever it was, his careless command had me frozen in spot, and I must have been standing there for longer then I thought, because he began impatiently, "was I not clear enough, Miss –"

Edward stopped short when he looked up at me, and what looked like remorse and defeat flickered over his face, in response to whatever look my own face must have been frozen in.

"Miss. Swan..." he began again, and this time his voice sounded slightly pleading. But I suddenly unfroze, hastily stepping towards the still opened door.

"You were _perfectly_ clear, Mr. Cullen. Have a good weekend." Pride made me turn on my heel and close the door behind me, though I could have sworn I heard him say my name – my _first_ name – softly.

But that was insane; in the four months I'd been working, he'd never called me anything but Miss. Swan. I doubt he was going to start now that he apparently loathed the very sight of me.

I angrily threw the freesia I had tucked into my hair into the trash. Then I hurried to my desk and retrieved my handbag, slipping the slim laptop into it. If Edward wanted me to do hours of extra work, then I was going to do them in the comfort of my own damn home. Preferably with a beer and a pint of Rocky Road ice cream.

I waited for Edward's private lift like a zombie, not willing to examine the emotions churning through me at the moment. To my horror, just as the elevator doors were closing, Edward's briefcase shot between them, and Edward stepped in behind me once they bounced open for him.

The sneaky bastard had clearly timed his arrival so that I couldn't make an excuse for a later lift if we had both been waiting for this one, and so that I didn't see him coming until he was already there.

I stood facing the doors, hoping I could survive the next 45 seconds, when he turned around so he was facing me instead of forward.

I refused to look up at him, even though I could feel his stare boring into my cheek.

"Isabella – _Bella_. Please look at me. Please."

But before I could do more then gasp at him saying my name, the lights in the elevator suddenly flickered and died. The emergency lighting came on a second later, barely illuminating everything in an eerie blue.

"What –" I began, but before I could finish the elevator jerked to a stop, sending me flying into Edward.

* * *

**Cliché, I know. **

**But this whole story started with me imagining the next chapter.**

**And yep, Edward was being a (sexy) little bitch, but all is explained and redeemed very soon.**

**Reviews=update!**


	8. Tower of Terror

**Thank you so much for the reviews! Again, I should be doing work, but the fantastic mathematical formula of reviews=update is still in effect, so keep that shit up please!**

**Just to address some of your concerns, Edward has a very good reason to be acting the way he is towards our sexually frustrated heroine. His POV is coming up in roughly 5 chapters, so hang in there.**

**

* * *

BPOV.**

"_Isabella – _Bella_. Please look at me. Please."_

_But before I could do anything but gasp at him saying my name, the lights in the elevator suddenly flickered and died. The emergency lighting came on a second later, barely illuminating everything in an eerie blue._

"_What –" I began, but before I could finish the elevator jerked to a stop, sending me flying into Edward._

My knees bent forward underneath me, and if Edward hadn't crouched down to catch me I would have been head-butting him in the stomach.

As it was, we were in some sort of twisted, comical dip, his hands locked around my waist, my hair raking the floor and Edward bent over so our noses were touching. My hands were dangling uselessly at my sides, but I wanted them buried in his hair. _Or grabbing his ass..._

I knew he must have been as uncomfortable with the angle as I was, but it seemed we were standing there, our breathing mingling and our eyes locked in the blue light, for an eternity.

Just as Edward was looking like he was about to say something, another jolt of the elevator had me clutching at his shoulders, while he quickly stood upright to keep us from toppling to the floor.

In heels, the top of my head was just raking his jaw, and I knew if I took them off he'd be able to tuck me securely under his chin. The height difference, far from intimidating me, made me feel feminine.

My hands were on the tops of his shoulders. And yeah, those weren't shoulder pads. Because though he might seem slight next to Emmett, he clearly _wasn't_. Edward's had one arm wrapped completely around my back and resting on my side, and his other was tangled in my hair. His smell; expensive soap, 100% cotton shirt, and a distinct Edwardish-male scent, was tickling my nose from where my face was buried in the from of his shirt.

"Do you think the powers gone out?" My voice was muffled against him, and I had to clear my throat mid-sentence. In my defense, I was having flash backs to my seventh Birthday party, where I had gotten stuck in a toilet booth and it had taken my mum, Renee, two hours to find me. I was also keenly aware of the fact that Edward Cullen had me wrapped in his arms in what was essentially an embrace.

That awareness only lasted another second, because the arm that had been wrapped around me was loosened, and his free hand began trailing up my back, across my shoulder, until it wrapped firmly around my arm, just above the elbow. I knew he was only keeping it there in case I fell again, but did he have to move it so _intimately_?

In response to my question, he used his free hand to pop-open the control panel and pick up the emergency phone.

The frown on his face when he put the receiver to his ear made my heart beat a little faster in nervousness, and it was already beating fast enough in arousal. He clicked down the redial button a few times.

"Well?" I couldn't help but blurt then, and I knew my voice still held anger from how he had treated me earlier.

"There's no dial tone." He informed me, hanging up. His hand ghosted towards his jacket pocket, no doubt for his phone, before he realized you couldn't get reception in here.

Though I had, of course, dreamt about being stuck in a lift with Edward Perfection Cullen, the panic was starting to set in at being confined in a four-by-four steel box held up by a few strings of wire 49 floors above ground level. Not to mention the creepy-ass blue lighting that seemed to create more shadows then it dissipated.

"So we just wait?" Was that shrieking really my voice? I couldn't actually know through the blood pounding in my ears.

In response to my question, Edward let go of my arm, shrugged off his jacket, and slid down the wall, settling with his legs spread out in front of him.

"Here you go." And to my surprise, he laid out his jacket down, _right _next to him, so I wouldn't have to sit on the cold wood floor.

I gaped at him for a second, because his moods were giving me whiplash, and how could he go from responding to my flirtations one day, to being a bastard for the rest of the week, to saying _my name_ less then two minutes ago, to now being all cool and collected in the Tower of Terror?

But before I could say or do anything, the elevator jerked again, and only Edward swiftly leaning forward and wrapping his arms around my hips kept me from hitting my head against the wall.

If it was any other time and Edward's head had been buried in my stomach, his hands grazing my bare thighs, I would have probably been thinking, _go a little lower_. But the whole elevator suddenly dropping a few feet issue was really, _really_ starting to freak me out. Though I still couldn't help but notice the heat that radiated off his calloused, rough fingers. It surprised me because I expected his skin to be smoother, less – _manly_.

"Sit down before you fall down." His voice was now muffled against _me_.

Ignoring the way his hands seemed to linger on my thighs, I hastily stepped back, turned, and plopped down next to him, with none of the grace he had sat down with. We were now both facing the mirrored right wall, our sides touching.

When I saw in the mirror that his head was down, tilted towards me, and that he was scowling at my thighs, I hastily fixed my skirt so it wasn't riding up, just as the elevator dropped another few feet.

"Okay, that's it." My voice was hysterical and I couldn't care less. "Shouldn't there be brakes? Or emergency brakes? Or emergency emergency brakes, for when the emergency brakes _break_? I mean, this is Cullen Freakin' Tower, not the Hollywood Tower Hotel!"

When Edward didn't say anything I looked up at him in the mirror, and there was a small, crooked smirk on his face, as if he was trying not to laugh. _God, all the times I'd wanted to see him laugh at something witty I said, and he had finally laughed at my abject fucking terror?!_

"Please try and stay calm." He told in the soothing voice you would use with a frustrated toddler. "I'm sure it's a simple glitch that will be fix–"

The emergency lights died, leaving us in pitch black, and the elevator twitched down another floor or so.

"–ed in no time."

I only realized my hand was digging into his knee when I felt his own hand come to rest on top of mine. His thumb began running soothing circles over my knuckles, and I heard his velvet purr in the dark.

"It's alright, Bella. Everything's fine."

The whole carriage began shaking continuously, lurching sickeningly down a few floors and occasionally jerking up. I began shaking too, my lower lip trembling, and I knew I was seconds away from crying.

"Bella? It's okay, okay?"

I couldn't answer. I knew if I opened my mouth, I'd burst into tears. God, where had brave, outgoing Bella from Monday gone?

That's right; she'd spent the week getting continuously knocked back, and now she was in complete darkness in what was obviously a steel death trap, with no way of contacting the outside world and no idea whether anyone knew she was in there.

There was a particularly bad jolt, and my head would have hit the wall behind me if Edward hadn't suddenly pulled me into his chest, taking the brunt of the hit himself. If he _had _bumped his head, he didn't let on, merely squeezed me against him and told me "It's alright" again.

When I didn't answer again, he asked, "Bella?"

And how could I not answer when that perfect voice was speaking my name with such concern, while his wonderful warm body was enveloping mine?

"I-I'm f-fine."

At the sound of my voice, I felt Edward's hand come up from around my shoulders and surround my face. I was feeling very small and young cradled between his massive hands, even more so when I realized I was crying into them.

"You're not _fine_. Come here." He replied forcefully, and I wish I had been in my right mind so that I could have take advantage of the fact that he then pulled me over to him so that I was sitting between his legs.

His arms wrapped around me again, and I felt his face pressing into my hair, and I heard a soothing "shh, Bella", and that was it. I was suddenly cringing into his chest like a frightened, beaten child, my arms coming up to wrap around his neck, my face buried into his warmth.

In response to my submission, and because I shuddered when the elevator started rattling so hard my teeth were on edge, his firm thighs squeezed my sides, one of his hands buried itself in my hair, and the other began rubbing soothing circles on my back.

"But what if-what if they don't k-know we're here?" I blubbered, probably ruining his shirt with my tears.

I felt his face pressing into my hair as he cooed, "they know we're here, Angel. It won't be long now. Please don't cry."

This, of course, only made me cry harder. Edward held me all the while, his face in my hair occasionally cooing words of comfort and practically begging me to stop crying. I had the feeling he didn't like seeing (well more like feeling) me cry, because the way he asked it was repeatedly, "Please stop crying for me? Please, sweetheart?"

And he kept calling me things as he murmured into my hair, things like "Sweetheart" and "Angel". I wished more then anything that I could focus on that, that I could deduce whether that really _was_ his lips pressing into my forehead at the end of every sentence, but all I could feel, think, hear, was the way the elevator kept dropping.

It must have been over half an hour later, when we had dropped to well below the thirtieth floor, when the emergency lights came back to life.

I had my eyes squeezed firmly shut, but Edward tilted my head up by running a hand through my hair, and whispered, "See, love? Won't be long now, I promise."

I looked up into his eyes, which were staring back at me with such calm, compassion, and concern, just as the elevator went into a freefall.

It felt like my stomach had risen past my head. A sickening sense of weightlessness settled on me. I would have looked up at the numbers blinking down at such an alarming rate, but Edward vehemently pulled my body back into his, so hard that it hurt. His arms locked tight around my back, one hand cradling the back of my head protectively, pushing my face into his neck. His legs curled at the knees and pushed into my waist. It was if his entire body was trying to create a protective shell around mine.

Just when I thought we were surely going to die, the elevator came to an abrupt stop. Edward and I were holding on so tight to each other that every muscle in my body was screaming in protest. Neither of us moved, but with my body next to his I could feel that my heart was beating _a lot _faster then his was. How had that not scared him as much as it did me?

In what felt like a minute but what must have been at least ten, the overhead lights came back on, and I could hear people banging on the door.

"Everyone okay in there?"

Edward's grip on me loosened slightly, though I was still pushing my face into his neck, and clutching at his shirt. I was equally trying to hide my tears, to greedily sucking in his scent, and to try and work past the insane shock and fear with the knowledge that we weren't pancakes.

"We're fine." Edward's loud voice startled me, and when I let out a humiliating squeak, his hand buried itself in my hair again. "Though we'd love to get out of here, if it's not _too_ much trouble on your end."

I heard a chuckle on the other side, and then a "five minutes and we'll have the doors open for you."

"Bella, do you think you can stand for me?" Edward's fingers were under my chin, tilting my face up to his. He was still smiling gently at me, his green eyes filled with concern.

I nodded, though I had never wanted to move less, and when I shakily released the fisted fabric in my hands, Edward brought an arm under mine and helped me to my feet.

He bent to retrieve my handbag, his briefcase, and his jacket, and then quickly, but still smoothly, put the jacket around my shoulders. Edward's arm wrapped around my shoulders the second the jacket was in place.

I understood his concern; staring back at me in the mirror was a girl with big brown eyes, tears running down her cheeks, the tip of her nose pink from crying, her body shaking like a leaf.

We stood in silence as the doors were jammed open, and two arms in a fire fighter's uniform immediately pulled me through the second there was enough room. I saw, with renewed shock, that we had fallen all the way to the parking garage before the emergency breaks had kicked in. Behind me, Edward passed through our bags before he calmly climbed out without any assistance.

After about thirty different uniformed men asked me if I was okay, and I assure them that I was bloody _fine_, I was negated to the sidelines while Edward talked with building security, the chief Fireman, and a few other important looking people.

By then, I was cold, tired, had a pounding headache, and wanted nothing more then to get home, curl up in bed and either ring my mom and have her sympathize and worry over me, or spend the night reliving and analyzing every touch, look, and word Edward had given me tonight.

I quickly took off Edward's beautiful smelling jacket, laid it neatly over his briefcase, and stealthily rounded the corner before anyone else could ask me if I was alright again.

My truck was park right where I left it, even though if felt like a week instead of 10ish hours since I had seen it last. Because my hands were shaking so badly, it took a few goes to get my keys out of my purse, but I managed it successfully on the third try. It took even more tries then that to unlock and open my door, but I eventually managed that too.

Just as I was about to climb in, I was yanked backwards by a firm grip on my dress and my door was slammed shut.

"And where do you think you're going?" That velvet voice whispered in my ear, doing nothing to decrease my nervous state.

I turned to face him, which also didn't help, and raised my eyebrows at his outraged expression.

"Um…_home_?" I asked him, dumbfounded.

Edward frowned disapprovingly at me and said, "Do you really think I'm going to let you drive home in your current condition?"

Now I was baffled. "Then do you suggest I sleep in the office?"

Edward rolled his eyes, something I'd never seen him do, reached around me, locked my door, grabbed my purse and keys, and tugged me away from my truck.

Before I even had time to be annoyed, flattered, or any other emotion, I was standing in front of his Volvo.

"I'm taking you home," he told me then, in a voice that didn't allow for any argument.

Edward leant in to open the passenger door for me, smirking crookedly at me when his face was just inches away, and adding, "_And_ I'm going to make sure you get tucked in properly."

**

* * *

Okay, no, they didn't hump like animals in the elevator.**

**But Edward is no longer keeping Bella at a distance anymore, which needed to happen for her plan to have any chance, right?**

**Reviewers go to Heaven. **

**Seriously. **


	9. Key Me

**Wow, an alarming number of us have had terrifying experiences in elevators. I'm glad you didn't think Bella was overreacting, because that shit is scary when it happens.**

**I had mixed reaction to Sweetward, some of you thinking he was being too nice too soon. When we get into Edward's head, you'll find out his reasons for acting the way he does. Promise.**

**Okay, now I know how many of you have added this story, and I am now writing per number of reviews I get. This once a day update thing won't be able to last, especially if I don't get some motivation! **

**

* * *

BPOV.**

"_I'm taking you home," he told me then, in a voice that didn't allow for any argument._

_Edward leant in to open the passenger door for me, smirking crookedly at me when his face was just inches away, and adding, "_And_ I'm going to make sure you get tucked in properly."_

"I'm perfectly capable of driving myself home, so can you please give me my keys back now?"

Edward ignored my grumbled words as he smoothly backed out of his parking space. So I repeated them, a little louder, with a pinch more irritation behind them.

"It took you six goes to get said keys out of your bag." He pointed out, reasonably, pulling out of the parking garage and into the street.

But I wasn't feeling reasonable. I was scared, looking like a sniveling mess, had just cried like a little girl in front of my juicy-man crush, and now I was suffering the indignity of having to be driven home (by aforementioned man-meat) because I was so "delicate".

"What about my truck? Look, just give me my keys and I'll be out of your hair. Besides, I'm totally not telling you where I live. So there." Had I really just said "so there" like a ten year old?

Edward turned to smile brightly at me, something I'd missed lately. "That's alright; I already know your address. So _there_."

Now I was just pissed. Which I knew was a result of my fear, but still, the next words slipped out in my most scathing voice before I could stop them.

"Well, if this week is any indication to go by, you obviously don't care if I wrap my truck around a lamp post, which means it shouldn't really be that much of an issue to give me my keys and take me back to my truck, right?"

I clapped my hand over my mouth the minute the words were out, not looking at his face, eyes instead focused on his hands tightening on the wheel. No matter how many designs I may have on the man, he was still Edward Cullen, my employer, and even if he was treating me like a pariah, I was an idiot to snap back.

Not to mention, he had just spent close to an hour holding me and comforting me when I was frightened, and there wasn't a lot of people who would be so patient and kind. I lowered my hands to stammer out an apology.

"S-sorry…I didn't mean…"

Edward waved a hand at me, ignoring my words. "Don't be. I thoroughly deserve that."

"No, Mr. Cullen, I…" but I didn't know what to say. He actually _did _deserve that, especially when I remembered how his sneering dismissal from earlier had hurt me. Thankfully Edward interrupted before I could find a way to finish.

"I was going to apologize before," he chuckled, slightly strained. "But we were obviously _distracted_. I've behaved atrociously this week; I was in the middle of a…moral dilemma, and I'm afraid I took out my frustrations on you." He explained inadequately, clearly contrite.

"Its fine, Mr. Cullen. I understand." Though I really didn't. What moral dilemma had he been facing? I would have asked, but his remorseful tone was incredibly dangerous to my equilibrium and I had granted his absolution without thinking.

I thought my answer would lift the nervous tension that was clear in the stiff set of his shoulders, but if anything he seemed to tense more, as if he was fighting with himself.

The next words out of his mouth were definitely not expected.

"Do you think that we could perhaps be friends after this?" Edward's eyes were fixed on the road, refusing to budge, as I turned to gape at him.

I hadn't missed the double layer to his question. He was wondering if I could get past his behavior from the last few days, but he seemed to also be acknowledging that we had kept ourselves at a very professional distance before that.

"You want to be my friend?" I asked, still gaping. Edward's shoulders had hunched the second I had opened my mouth, and I was wondering if he had been expecting a rebuttal.

"Yes, I would." He paused, sneaking a sideways glance at me. "Very much so."

A pleasant tingling sensation spread through me, head to toe, and I had to hold back the cheesiest grin in history.

"You just saved me from having a heart attack in that lift, Mr. Cullen; of course we can be friends." I answered him, honestly. What I didn't add was that I was pretty much in love with the guy and wanted him to pop my cherry.

His tensed body seemed to melt into his seat and his death-grip on the wheel loosened.

"Good. Great. _Fantastic_." He breathed.

"Yeah, all of those." I couldn't help but giggle like a little girl, and I heard his low chuckle answer.

"And Bella? I've had you between my legs the entire evening. I think you can feel free to go right ahead and call me Edward at this point."

His words, along with the elated smile he sent me, made me want to stick my head out of the window like a dog and scream in glee. But he had given me an opportunity too good to pass up, and as the Seducing-Oblivious-Boss plan was now back with a vengeance, I decided to take it.

"Hmm." I tapped my chin thoughtfully, as if weighing his words. "Well, _Edward_, suffice to say that you _haven't _had me between your legs for the entire evening."

"Oh, why do you say that?" Edward asked, clearly puzzled, probably thinking I was going to dispute the amount of time we'd spent in the elevator.

"Because you wouldn't have been calling me "Angel" if you had."

I saw his grip slip on the steering wheel in surprise, and I swear to God, the man almost swerved into oncoming traffic.

_Booyah Mother Fucker_.

But I had celebrated my flirting-Edward-into-near-vehicular-accident-shock too soon. I should have known I'd never be outdone by him.

When we stopped at a set of lights, Edward swiveled in his seat so he was leaning over the clutch, and brought that devastatingly pretty grin into play again.

"Hmm." He tapped his chin, mimicking my words and actions. Only _his_ face was inches from mine when he spoke. "Well, _Bella_, suffice to say that you haven't had the pleasure of me between _your _legs for an entire evening either. I promise you, you'd be on a first name basis with me after _that_."

I'd never seen Edward flirt before, but even as a cold distant, occasional bastard, the man was perfect. Once he brought the sexual persuasion and the charm out, I was raising my panties as a white flag of surrender. And he wasn't even done yet.

Edward's face drifted to the side, and I felt his hot breath on the shell of my ear as he murmured, "on the other hand, maybe I would have you call me _Mr. Cullen_."

Holy Rusted Metal Batman, I think I just creamed my panties.

I may have let out a squeak or something equally ridiculous, because his laugh, louder then I had ever heard it, filled the car, as he said, "You know what, Bella? I think this is the start of a _beautiful _friendship."

I wasn't capable of speech the rest of the trip, but I could see his satisfied smirk playing along those kissable lips. When we reached my apartment Edward pulled into the residential underground car park and slotted into the fifteen-minute temporary parking. That made me slightly disappointed, as I wanted nothing more then for him to come up and make me sing the Hallelujah chorus.

Once Edward had stepped out and opened my door for me, I expected him to bid me goodnight, but he simply raised his eyebrows expectantly, clearly intent on walking me to my door.

I rolled my eyes in response and led the way, making sure to swing my ass as I did.

"I'm perfectly capable of looking after myself." I threw over my shoulder, though that statement was plainly false, considering the way I had needed him to hold me earlier.

"Humor me." He retorted in a dark voice, and I got a thrill when I saw his hooded eyes snap up from my hips to my eyes when he noticed me looking over my shoulder at him.

Edward didn't question me when I went for the staircase instead of the lift, and I made sure that I was right in front of him as I sashayed up the five flights of stairs.

He quickened his stride so he was next to me as we entered my corridor, wearing a disapproving scowl. "Isn't there any building security? Anyone could just walk in off the street."

I was rolling my eyes so much in the last few minutes, I was afraid they'd get stuck pointing at my nose. "Thanks, _dad_, but its fine."

Then we were standing in front of my door, less then a foot between us. I was going to busy myself with looking for my keys, until Edward reminded me he had them by dangling them in front of my face.

I went to snatch them from him, but he quickly held them higher, an Angelic smile on his face.

"You didn't say please." He pointed out sweetly.

Well if Edward was feeling playful, I had every intention of giving as good as I got. Then squealing at the top of my lungs the minute I was alone.

I leant in so that I had to tilt my chin to look up at him. "So you want me to beg, Edward, is that it?"

Edward's eyes narrowed, the smile gone, and it was right that second I realized I might be in over my head. Because for all my bravado, I was a Minor leaguer trying to play in the Majors. Edward had years of experience under his belt, had done things that had made me blush red when his brothers had told me about them, and I was try to out-flirt the guy.

"What an interesting proposition, _Angel_." The pet name there to subtly tell me he didn't think I would follow through. He leant down, and his breath blew across my face as he hissed, "I think that's _exactly _what I want. Beg. Beg me."

_Fuck it._

Time for adventurous Bella to make a better-late-then-never style appearance.

I snaked a hand around so it was tangled in the hair at the base of his neck and stared straight into those intense green eyes.

"Please Edward…" I whimpered, making sure to let out the occasional breathy moan, "please can I have it? Please? Edward, I'll do anything you want, please?" I was so turned on at this point that I was definitely _not _begging for my keys.

I was thrilled when Edward muttered a harsh "_fuck_" under his breath, but less thrilled when a door opening down the hall ruined whatever moment we could possibly have potentially been having.

Edward's fingers trailed up my arm until he was gently and (judging from the way his eyes were smoldering) reluctantly removing my hand from his hair. He kept a hold of the hand, keeping it palm up in his.

"Bella, you completely and utterly earned these." He curled my fingers around my keys and the lightly kissed my knuckles.

I laughed, trying to release the tension before I pulled him into my apartment by his belt loops. "Fat lot of good they'll do me, with my truck at work. Thank God my room mate has a car too."

Edward laughed, walking effortlessly backwards, eyes still locked on mine. He had reached the staircase entrance when he said, "silly friend. You won't need your truck. I'll pick you up for work on Monday." Then he disappeared through the door like it was a done deal.

_Well crap_. The weekday was starting to look up.

Plus, I vowed that by Monday; I'd have some new and delicious torture to put Edward Cullen through.

**

* * *

Give them time, peoples. He's going to try and resist her for as long as possible cause, again, the kids got his reasons. And cause I love me a little sexual tension.**

**And here's the formula for anyone who sucks at math like I do: reviews=update :)**


	10. Innuendo

**You guys have some freaky-ass voodoo over me, because I _swore _to myself I was going to do homework, and then I read all your fantastically kind reviews and I couldn't help but write another chapter instead.**

**Plus, writing this (while pretending it was homework) got me out of dinner with my Bf's parents. So yay.**

**The genius formula I've been operating by has changed, so it's now: double the number of reviews=update. Basically, when the reviews from the last chapter have been doubled, I'll post another one. Desperate, I know.**

**

* * *

BPOV.**

_To my horror, just as the elevator doors were closing, Edward's briefcase shot between them, and Edward stepped in once they opened._

_I stood facing the doors, hoping I could survive the next 45 seconds, when he turned around so he was facing me instead of forward._

_I refused to look up at him, even though I could feel his stare boring into my cheek._

"_Isabella – _Bella_. Please look at me. Please."_

_When I did nothing but continue to stare at my own two feet, I saw him reach over and roughly hit the emergency stop button, dropping his brief case in the process._

"_I'm asking nicely, Bella." He warned me, indicating that that could change if I didn't do as I was damn told. "But I won't ask again."_

_As I knew this to be true, I raised my head, tilting my chin up defiantly. "I'm not gonna pretend to be yours if you're going to treat me like dirt all week."_

_Okay._

_So probably that was the wrong thing to say._

_I could call Edward any name I could think of, from Nancy-boy to degenerate ass-hole, and he'd shrug it off. But I don't think telling him I wasn't his was the brightest idea I'd ever had. Especially when I was caged in with him._

_The repentant look that had been on his face changed, until he was wearing a blank mask. Only the predatory gleam in his eyes let me know what I was in for._

"_I wanted to apologize to you, Angel. Wanted to make you feel good to show you how sorry I was." He cooed sweetly, while walking towards me. I instinctively moved away until I was literally back against the wall. His stopped when his body was inches away from mine, leant down so that we were face-to-face. "But clearly you haven't learnt you lesson. You. Belong. To. _Me_."_

_His tongue snaked out to lick his lips in anticipation as he told me, "I'm going to take you home and fuck your hot little mouth with my cock. That makes you _mine_." His hand fisted my dress up so it was around my waist. "I'll fuck your pussy so hard you'll be wincing for the next week. That makes you _mine_." He leant fully against me, his erection digging painfully into my hipbone. "And, most importantly, I'm not going to let you cum until fucking sunrise. Because you're mine to do with as I please."_

_He smashed his pelvis into mine, the collision of his erection with my hipbone hurting. "Do you feel that? What it does to me to be around you?" His hips shifted forward again, so he was digging deeper into me, "We're going to have to take care of this before I get you home, aren't we Angel?"_

_Suddenly_ _his lips were tugging instantly on mine, his teeth nipping at me, until I automatically opened my mouth to gasp. Edward took advantage of my parted lips immediately, thrusting his tongue inside and rolling it on top of mine. He was kissing me as if he wanted to devour me, slamming into me like I was a tool to be used for his pleasure._

_I loved every second of it._

_Even more so when his hands came around to grip my ass, practically lifting me off my feet. Edward took advantage of the new angle, bending his knees slightly so he could thrust upwards. The thick head of his cock, separated through my thin panties and his pants, was rubbing directly against my clit._

"_Oh God..." I whimpered, collapsing back against the wall. His hand impatiently trailed up from my ass to the small of my back, so he could hold me upright and continue using my body for friction._

"_You're so wet for me," he grunted while rocking against me rhythmically, no doubt feeling my dampness through our clothes, "you're gonna stay like that all night, tease."_

_He tried to kiss me again, but the pleasure seemed to be too much for him, and all he could manage was to gasp hot air into my open mouth as his hips sped up._

"_Can I cum?" I begged, because he was still hitting that perfect spot and I was so wet I knew there would be a patch on the crotch of his pants._

"_Tell me who you belong to." He growled, now using the hand on my ass to grind me on him, as he rubbed up and down._

_I wanted to say I belong to him, because, really, it was completely true, but the pride that had been stung during the past week just_ – just – _managed to outweigh the frustrated need he was building up._

"_Go to hell," I snarled at him, even as I rolled my hips into him._

"_Your loss, baby. I'm still gonna get mine." And the bastard changed his angle so that he was rubbing lower, away from my aching nerve centre. The friction became torturous now; just enough to keep me on edge, nowhere near enough to send me over._

_It wasn't long before his hips were thrusting jerkily, and he was moving me back and forth faster on him._

"_Kiss me. Kiss me right now." He ordered, bringing his head up from my neck, where he had been trailing hot, wet, bites and kisses._

_I pressed my open mouth over his, allowing him to suck my bottom lip in between his._

_His body tensed, and he gave one final jerk against me, biting into my lip as he came. It took him a minute to calm his breathing down, though it would have taken less time if he weren't sucking on my lip to sooth the sting._

_Finally he pulled away, rearranging my skirt with a smirking look at my wet panties. I would be that way all night, just as he wanted._

_My body was following his commands even if my mind screamed not to._

My dreams were becoming progressively more frequent. As they increased in frequency they also became more dominant, more aggressive. In my subconscious, I was letting Edward use and abuse me, torture me and taunt me, fuck me into a lack of sensibility.

And I was getting off on it.

Three nights of this – of imagining our elevator ride going _very _differently – and I was young, willing and damn eager to get at Edward on Monday morning.

When I came into the kitchen that morning, Alice and Rose were wide-awake, sitting at the breakfast bar and dressed up to the nines.

"Bella, you look ten kinds of doable!" Rose complimented, the second I walked in.

I was wearing a grey baby doll dress, which was clinched tight, emphasizing the smallness of my waist and the roundness of my breasts. Well, at least according to Alice, that's what it did. I would have taken Rose's compliment at face value, but I knew perfectly well she was trying to distract me from the obvious. I frowned suspiciously at them and talked around the toast Alice handed to me.

"Thanks Ro, but could you explain to me what the hell you two are doing up at," I glanced dramatically at my Blackberry, "6:15 in the morning, dressed up like Hookers-R-Us, when neither of you need to leave this apartment until after 10?"

To Alice's credit, she didn't bother trying to distract me like Rose.

"Oh c'mon Bella! You've been crushing on him like a bitch in heat for the last four and a half months; I think it's our _duty _as best friends to meet the guy. And we had to dress up cause Jazz was telling me how Edward thinks first impressions are important." I rolled my eyes – all Rose and I had heard since Friday was how "Jazz said" this and "Jazz said" that.

I was beginning to regret letting them know about what we were now calling the "Angel incident". Because they had learnt about Edward treating me so wonderfully in the elevator, then flirting with me afterwards, they had refused to let me leave the room when Edward had called me yesterday afternoon.

The minute I had seen "Boss-man" on the called ID, I had made the mistake of squealing, which had of course tipped them off.

When I had answered, Edward's velvet voice had sent a jolt through my body straight to my doodah.

"Hello?" I'd tried to keep my voice cool and disinterested, and the girl's thumbs-up told me I'd succeeded.

"Hello, Bella. It's Edward." His voice had been satisfied, and I'd realized he was enjoying the use of first names between us.

"Hi, Edward. How are you?" Alice had rolled her eyes at my formality, while Rose furiously typed something out on her phone.

"Better now." I could hear his grin, and I'd felt like I was missing some inside joke. "But more importantly, how are you? You we're so shaken up on Friday."

I'd blushed, remembering how outwardly I had flirted with him, and ignored the text Rosalie held up to me that read; "_tell him u want 2 come over & suck his cock_".

"I'm great. Just don't think I'll be riding in any elevators anytime soon," I'd laughed, though this was an actual concern. I'd tried to get into the elevator earlier that day and had had a full-blown panic attack.

"That's going to be an interesting issue in a city of sky-scrappers. We'll have to see how you go tomorrow. Shall I pick you up at six thirty?" I had done a mental happy dance, glad that he remembered.

"Sure, just prank my phone when you're downstairs." My nonchalant voice had earned me another set of thumbs-up.

"Don't be ridiculous, please. I'll come to your door – beautiful women should always have escorts."

That sentence had completely destroyed any cool I had going, but thankfully he had hung up before I was forced to respond.

Now, waiting for him, I was armed with two flasks of coffee, a copy of "_Beauty's Punishment_", the second book in the series of erotic novels we had discussed, and a kick-ass rip-off Berkin handbag under my arm.

At exactly six thirty on the dot (not that I was checking the time in an OCD kind of way or anything) the buzzer sounded, and Alice, moving incredibly fast for someone so fucking tiny, ran over and opened the door.

Edward was looking perfect as always, in his meticulously neat, expensive suit. The polite smile he had given Alice widened impossibly when he spotted me. I felt a responding smile light up my face without any conscious violation.

"Hi, I'm Alice Brandon, that's Rosalie Hale, we're Bella's roommates." I could just see that she was dying to add "and we're both going to be screwing Jasper and Emmett's respective brains-out once we get past the third date."

"It's a pleasure to meet you both," Edward murmured, shaking and quickly releasing the hand proffered by Alice.

But his eyes still hadn't left me, even for a second, and I was unexpectedly anxious to get him alone, to close the distance of the between us.

"Morning, Bella." He breathed, and the way he was looking at me had me fighting the urge to blush, which would ruin the outgoing, flirtatious image I wanted to portray.

"Morning, Edward. I'm ready now, if you want." I wonder if that sounded as dirty to him as it did me? His next words answered my question.

"Yes, I want." He agreed smoothly, standing to the side of the door to let me precede him. I waved goodbye to the girls as I left, and saw Rose already had her phone out.

I handed him his coffee as we headed into the corridor, and saw him raise his eyebrows at the book in my hand.

"Yes?" I questioned in my best calm and composed voice. Now that he had seen it, I slipped the book into my handbag.

"I'd think being a submissive in the first book was enough punishment for Sleeping Beauty."

I almost wanted to call the sly motherfucker out. If I didn't know already, I'd have no clue he had read the series.

"Interesting view," I said casually, ignoring another set of eyebrows when I led him down the stairs instead of taking the lift, "but I think the whole point of the novels is how being submissive can be freeing, not a punishment."

"How specifically, Bella?" he shot back straight away, easily matching stride with me on the staircase.

Well, if Edward wanted me to talk dirty to him, then dirty-talking Bella I shall become. I pretended to be thinking about my reply, actually timing it perfectly so that by the time I turned to answer him; he was leaning over me to open my door. I heard my Blackberry beep, but I ignored it for now.

"Beauty is denied any kind of sexual release until it's absolutely a physical necessity." I told him thoughtfully, drawing attention to my lips by tapping them with a light pink fingernail. I looked him straight in the eyes as I spoke. "_Imagine that_. Imagine wanting someone _so_ badly, you become an animal. A mindless creature, operating on instinct and need alone, willing to do anything, please anyone, if it means getting off. Complete freed of societies restraints."

"Have you ever wanted something, _someone_, that badly Bella?" With Edward Cullen leaning over me, staring at me in what could only be described as pure _lust_, it was an odd time for my stomach to do a happy flop at the realization he was trying to cram my name in as much as possible.

I sent him what I hoped would be a wily wink, and not a demented eye twitch. If I was ever going to be Bella-Blue-Balls-Extraordinaire, I'd have to practice that shit in front of the mirror or something.

"If I had, it would be my little secret." _With Alice, and Rosalie, and Jasper, and Emmett..._ "What about you? Ever wanted someone like that, Edward?" I threw his name in at the end, because he clearly loved hearing me say it, and I damn well did it too.

"Your apartment is on my way to work. We always arrive and leave at the same time; I think I should just drive you?" It sounded like an order, and it bothered me how horny it made me hearing Edward issue me orders.

Also, his abrupt subject change, and the way he was ducking his head towards me, had me reeling. I wondered how he was connecting what we had just been talking about with me riding with him to work, and I hoped it was because he was planning on letting me ride him in the backseat, too.

"Not going to answer my question?" I teased him, wanting to leave him hanging for a minute, though I'd rather eat glass then say no to a few more minutes in his company everyday.

"Not going to answer mine?" He shot back immediately. _Damn_, the man was fast.

"Same time," I countered.

Edward nodded, and then we both blurted our answers at the same time.

"Yes, I have."

"Sounds good." I said, insanely jealous of whomever this girl was that had made Edward want her so badly. It was probably Victoria, the woman he had been rumored to be dating when I had first started work. I made a mental note to look her up and kick her in the shins.

Edward was still looking at me thoughtfully, his head cocked to the side, and it seemed he was gauging how I would respond to something.

"You know, I think you do it to me on purpose." He said finally, holding the door open for me.

"Do what?" I asked carefully, paranoid that his brothers had told him my plan. I would have gotten into the car to avoid looking at him, but Edward was standing too close for me to move.

"This..." he told me, and, Holy Mother, he was suddenly pressing himself against me, and he was hard against my stomach, and my dreams hadn't done him justice, cause, really, how big could a girl possibly imagine them? This was most certainly the Holy Grail of cocks.

But more important, _I _was the reason Edward's massive cock was rock hard, and it felt so incredibly amazing digging into my soft stomach, and he was leaning back and looking into my eyes doing the unfair smoldering thing.

Still gauging my reaction, Edward rubbed himself against me once before abruptly stepping back. It was as if he humped employee's everyday.

He held my door open again, and I tried to lower myself into the seat without spontaneously creaming myself.

"Thank you," I said shakily, though I couldn't really believe I was thanking him for opening and closing doors when I had just had the most surreal experience of my life.

"You're _very _welcome," he replied, lightly closing the door.

Neither of us spoke as he began the trip to Cullen Tower, and I don't know why he wasn't, but I personally didn't want to break or worsen the charged atmosphere.

To keep my eyes from straying to his tight pants, I checked the text I had received from earlier. It was from Rose, saying:

"_Fuck, Bella. He only had eyes for you. It was like Al and I weren't even in the room. Plus, he looks at you like you're something to eat._"

Today was going to be a great day.

**

* * *

Yeah, Edward's given up.**

**That doesn't mean he's just going to jump her, because like Jazz and Em said, he doesn't want to take advantage of her, but he's definitely pro-sexing at this point, if "little" Eddie is anything to go by. Hee.**

**So, new formula: double the reviews=update.**


	11. Success?

**Thank you for the HEAP of reviews, they all made my day. I know I seem like a crazy person begging for them, but your feedback is the ONLY reason I keep writing.**

**Just to address a few things you were wondering; yes, EPOV will be coming up very soon, just have to wait for a particular plot twist to happen.**

**IMPORTANT: It's only been ONE WEEK since Bella decided to seduce Edward, and for most of that he was being all mean. So please, give them time, and there will be real smutty goodness.**

**And - I love how a few of you have gone out and bought "Sleeping Beauty", I'm so glad I can convert you!**

**Double the reviews = update.**

**

* * *

BPOV.**

_Edward, Edward, Edward, Edward._

_Excuse me Edward; you have a call on line one._

_I'm just going to head out to lunch, Edward._

As we pulled up to work, I kept chanting his name in my head, taking out "Mr. Cullen" from the phrases I often spoke to him, and replacing it with Edward.

It was so amazingly liberating to be able to call him his given name in _and _out of my head, that I just couldn't help but repeat it, over and over, until it lost all meaning.

Alright, I'll admit it.

That was all bullshit.

What I was really trying to do was desperately keep myself from looking to see if he was still physically aroused.

What I really couldn't stop chanting was: _I turned Edward on, I turned Edward on._

Edward didn't look at me until we were parked at work. Once the car had stopped, he swiveled in his seat so I could feel his staring drilling a hole in my cheek. I didn't return the look, purely because if I turned, my eyes wouldn't be meeting his, they would be looking at his crotch.

I heard him heave what sounded like an incredibly disappointed sigh, and then he said softly, "I apologize about before, I thought...well, I felt that..."

Oh crap, he thought I was regretting flirting with him. In a hurry to right that wrong, I quickly released my much-abused bottom lip from my teeth, and turned to frown at him in faux confusion.

"Before?" I asked him an innocent voice, making sure I had the Bambi eyes going.

Edward's brow furrowed, so we were just two horny fuckers frowning at each other in his Volvo.

"In the garage...when I..." he trailed off, still not realizing I was messing with him.

I adjusted my handbag and coffee, popped my door open, and then began to climb out of the car. When I was halfway out, I turned to look at him, and the innocent look was replaced by my best sex-me-please look.

"Don't worry, Edward, I didn't _feel _anything. Maybe it was all in your head."

I just had time to see quickly lean over to me, his eye darkening dangerously, before I closed the door in his face. Obviously I had profiled my boss well, because that little sexual quip had angered/aroused real life Edward as much as it would the one in my dreams.

I didn't get three steps away from the car before I heard Edward's door slam shut and his quick footsteps. Then he was standing next to me, his hand on the small of my back, guiding me to the elevator.

"You didn't feel anything, hmm?" He mused delicately, while I compared this Edward to the Edward of three weeks ago. Three, hell, _one_ week ago, he would never, ever have walked so close I could feel his body heat seeping through my dress.

"Nope," I said in a relaxed voice, popping the "p".

The hand that was on the small of my back slithered around until it was resting possessively on my upper hip. He leant in, and when he whispered next, it was against my ear.

"Well, then next time, I guess I'll just have to _push _a little harder."

_Squee-hee-hee_, he said next time.

I turned so I was walking backwards, and as I did Edward's hand slid so it was flat against my abdomen. I wasn't inclined to remove it, and he didn't seem to want to either.

"A little harder," I agreed, looking him straight in the eye. "And a little _lower_."

I can't believe I'd just said that. From the look on his face, neither could he, because his other hand came up, so he was holding me by the waist, and I suddenly found myself pushed against the unopened elevator doors.

"Your wish, my command." He grinned down at me like I was a shiny new toy he'd just won. Well, no, it was more devious then that. He grinned down at me like I was a shiny new toy he'd just _stolen_ off a baby.

"That simple, huh? I want, you do?" I mumbled, barely able to talk considering he was shifting me by my waist so that my hips were thrust out to him. He was literally manipulating my body, getting it in place.

Before Edward could respond, we were interrupted by an amused, fake cough. _Oh God, please let that not be who I think it is_.

My worst fears were confirmed when Edward's wonderful, magical hands dropped from my sides. He shuffled back a little, hitting the button for the lift.

"Hello, Emmett," he groaned, without turning around.

"Hiyah, Eddie." Emmett said gleefully, "Who's that you've got hidden behind you?"

_As if you don't know, you walking Alp_.

"Hey, Em." I stepped out from around Edward, very reluctantly. The death glare I shot his grinning brother should have been enough to send him cowering into a corner, but he only grinned harder.

"Well _hello_, little trooper."

I felt comfortable enough in Edward's presence to tease his brother in front of him. "Shut up, Em. Shouldn't you be around the other side of the building?"

Emmett and Jasper as well as Carlisle, when he was actually in the building, had offices on the other side of the top floor. It was only my rotten cock-blocking luck that Emmett had come this way. And, holy crap, but what an amazing cock to block.

"Right you are, Goober." Emmett agreed, surprisingly taking the hint. I was going to compliment myself on a successful death glare, but I noticed that Edward was sending a far more impressive one at Emmett too. I'd definitely be retreating if that glare was aimed at me.

"I'll see you at lunch." Emmett told me meaningfully, as he headed off the other elevator bank.

With perfect timing, Edward's lift arrived then. He smiled at me as he held the door open, and it was only when he spoke that I realized I hadn't moved.

"Bella?"

"I'm taking the stairs." I blurted, because looking into that lift, even though it brought this wonderful man closer to me, it scared me so badly my coffee was shaking in my hand.

"It's fifty flights, Sweetheart." He pointed out gently, and I don't think he even realized he's called me that.

"Well then I'll have a svelte ass by the time I'm done," I quipped nervously, because he was leaning towards me like he was about to pounce.

"I'm fairly positive – though I will need to complete a closer inspection just to be sure, that you've already got a svelte ass. Now come here. Nothing bad will happen." He beckoned me with one of those gloriously long fingers. I was having none of it.

I started backing away then, but his agile hands were suddenly gripping the tops of my shoulders and pulling me into the lift.

I tried to whirl back around and run off while simultaneously screaming like a banshee, but his grip was too strong, and he had already hit the top floor button.

"No you don't," he said playfully, when I tried to hit the second floor. The amused glint in his eyes faded the second he realized just how upset I was, and I was abruptly in my new favorite place in the world; Edward's arms.

"It's fine, love," he murmured in my ear, holding me so tight that my feet were off the ground, "do you really think I'd let you come back in here if they hadn't thoroughly fixed it?"

I couldn't answer, and he didn't seem to be expecting one, merely running his fingers through my hair until I heard the doors opening.

I stumbled out of his grasp and into my familiar office the second I could. "I know it's fixed, I just don't like being in the stupid thing!" I defended myself shrilly.

Edward chuckled and followed me to my desk, and waited until I had dumped my stuff and he had my full attention again before he spoke.

"Perhaps next time I'll have to think of a more...ah...succinct distraction."

I shot him a dirty look, because our verbal foreplay (oh _please _let it be foreplay) was making me want to hump his leg.

"If you're up to the task." I muttered, giving him my most challenging look. _C'mon Edward_, the look said, _fuck me until I'm screaming your name and unable to question just how up to the task you really are_.

My phone rang before he could answer, (I added it to my list of cock-blocking menaces) and as I picked it up and did my usual "Edward Cullen's Office," spiel, he began scribbling something on my memo pad.

When he was done, he ripped the sticky-note off the pad and stuck it to my forehead. Then he mouthed, "_I'll be in my office_" and disappeared through his door.

I ripped the note off and, needless to say, what he had written on it in his elegant script was enough to make me forget I was in the middle of a phone conversation.

"_We'll see if I meet your standards on the way down_."

* * *

Half way through the day, I got a phone call from Jasper that brightened my already fantastic mood.

"Hey Bella, just out of curiosity, cause apparently no one tells me anything anymore, but why in the hell did my brother just ring me and ask in the fake little casual voice what time we're going to lunch? And not only that, but I had to put his ass on hold, and when I came back on, the dude was humming to himself. _Humming_. Edward. I feel like I'm in the fucking Twilight Zone here."

Edward came in about halfway through my lunch with Jasper and Emmett. This was convenient, because we had spent the first half with me quickly recapping everything that had happened since Friday night. The boys were proud of all my flirting and I felt myself preening under their compliments.

When Edward got there, he slid into the booth so he was sitting directly opposite me. By then, we were in a look-by-look analysis of Emmett and Jaspers respective dates, and I was surprised how easily Edward fit into our conversation.

It was liked I'd always seen Emmett and Jasper as a pair, but with Edward teasing and outrageously unhelpful comments, and with the way the guys teased him back, it was clear they were the Cullen Brothers Three. Throughout the entire lunch, Edward's eyes barely left my face, and Jasper nudged me under the table more then once.

Edward returned to the office with me, which was lucky, because I needed his comforting hug to get through the elevator ride on the way up. Then at about five pm, Jessica packed up to leave, and when Edward found us having our nightly gossip debrief at my desk, he made Jessica's eyes pop out of her head when he joined in.

By six thirty I was packing up to leave the office, and in either a well-planned attack, or a fluke of timing, Edward joined me when I was waiting for the dreaded lift. He had been so friendly all day, without any overt innuendos, and I hoped it was because we had always been with at least one other person.

Still, I presumed he had completely forgotten about his little note from before. His polite conversation while we waited for the lift reinforced this gloomy assessment.

"Did we get a call back from Matthews's people?" he asked me, casually leaning against the wall while we waited, eyes still trained on me, just like they had been whenever I'd looked at him today.

"About an hour ago. They confirmed your meeting time," I informed him disappointedly, as we stepped into the lift.

But I needn't have worried.

The _millisecond _the doors shut, Edward was shoving me against the wall, holding me there with the weight of his own body flush to mine.

His mouth covered mine, and with a grunt he was shoving his tongue past my shocked lips. His hands were fisted in my hair, turning my head to the side so he could angle his tongue further into my mouth, running it along my teeth and then knifing it past them. My eyes were opened wide in surprise, and I could just make out the little frown on his face, as if he was in pain.

He didn't seem content that I was still frozen, because he brought on hand down from my hair, gently massaging my cheek, while exploring my mouth with his tongue, trying to coax me into responding.

In the same second his amazing taste finally penetrated my consciousness, my hands suddenly shot up and buried themselves in that glorious hair, and with a hard yank, I was smashing my face against his, using the tip of my tongue to massage the underside of his.

Edward groaned in supplication, his hands now gripping my face, and his tongue began stabbing in and out of the wet cavity of my mouth. _Edward Cullen was fucking my mouth with his tongue_.

He was panting and snarling and grunting, and seeing him so incredibly turned-on made me even more turned-on, so then I was moaning and whimpering and gasping, which turned him on more, and the circle just kept on going.

Then before I could blink, the elevator opened and the echo of voices in the parking garage let us know the moment was over. His tongue slowly, torturously, snaked out of my mouth, and his lips broke away from mine with the sound of suction being broken.

Edward pulled away from me completely, and if you took a picture of him and stuck it on a wall, he'd be the poster boy for sexual frustration. His hair was mussed from my tugging fingers, his lips were wet and swollen, a distinct bulge was straining against his pants, his cheeks were flushed sexily, and his eyes were barely controlled. He was greedily gasping, just like I was, because, holy crap, we hadn't come up for air for the whole ride.

"What do you think, Bella? Was I up to the task?" His words were hissed, but he was gently tucking a strand of my hair behind my ear as he spoke them.

The task? Right distracting me from the whole fear of the elevator thing. When he was kissing me, I hadn't even realized I _was _in an elevator. So yeah, I'd say he was _completely_ up to the task.

I didn't tell him that, I merely waited until I wouldn't sound all breathy and in love, and told him casually, "I dunno."

I slid past him and out the lift, heading towards my poor neglected truck, which was parked next to his Volvo.

I leant back against the truck bed, and he joined me, glancing at a man getting into his car about ten spaces away.

"You don't know?" he repeated incredulously, his eyes trained on my lips, which I knew were as swollen as his. "I think you can do better then that."

I leant up on the pretence of fixing his tie, and whispered against his lips, "I've had better."

If there were an award for cock-tease of the year, I'd have that shit in the bag.

Edward roughly grabbed my hands, shoving them away from the knot of his loosened tie.

"If we were alone I'd make you take those foolish words back." He warned me. "As it is, I'll pick you up tomorrow at the same time, and then I'll prove that statement to be false."

Holy Hell.

Isn't car-pooling the _best_?

**

* * *

Isn't it, though?**

**What did you guys think of their first kiss? I was going to make it all loving and sweet, but these kids have enough frustration to fill an Olympic size swimming pool.**

**Double the reviews=update.**


	12. Control

**I can't even believe it.**

**I was all; it's going to take a couple of days for the reviews to double, I'll just sleep off my hangover today. Then I check and I have like 250 emails of all your wonderful comments. And as I am a woman of my word, I gave up my nap to write this.**

**Deep and abiding love for you all!**

**Just to prove it, this chapter has real, not dream smut in it. And, Edward's POV is in 4 chapters.**

**Now I want at least 100 reviews. Yeah. I'm a cow, I know. But at least maybe that request means I'll get a few days off so I don't fail psych :)**

**

* * *

BPOV.**

I wouldn't lose this battle of wills anymore.

That's exactly what it was, too.

A challenge.

A lesson in control.

When Jasper and Emmett had come over for dinner with the girls and me, I had explained what had happened between Edward and me to the four of them. They had romanticized the whole thing, saying it was so sweet and that they were so glad my plans had worked for me.

If any of them properly understood the tension that had been escalating between Edward and me, they wouldn't have called it sweet.

It was a twice-daily battle of wills, a tug-o-war, the tension between two positively charged magnets, a raging fucking inferno in a confined fucking space.

Edward had first kissed me Monday of last week, and now, on Wednesday of the next week, we had kissed a total of fifteen times. Don't get me wrong, I would probably have counted anyway, but my reason for having such a concise tally was due to the fact that; every single kiss we had had been in his elevator – one kiss after coming to work together in the morning, and one kiss on the way back to his car at night.

The pretence as to why we were kissing was gone. For the first few days Edward had teased me afterwards, telling me he was making sure I didn't get scared, and I had responded with as much innuendo and flirtation as I could cram in. Then every night we'd be waiting like eager fools, Edward ready to sweep me into his arms the second those doors closed behind us.

It wasn't long before the eagerness turned into burning impatience. I noticed Edward began driving faster to work, began opening the passenger door for me quicker, holding me from my upper arm and practically dragging me to the lift. At nights he would be waiting at my desk, his whole body clenched in anticipation, as I hurriedly tried to gather my things under his heated scrutiny.

He would push and pull at me the second the door was closed, tugging me closer while simultaneously backing me into the wall. His mouth would be on me the entire ride up or down.

Edward stopped teasing me about the same time he discovered that if he held down the close door button, we could have a few more coveted minutes wrapped up in each other. Clearly, it had nothing to do with distracting me from any kind of fear when he was purposely trying to prolong our time together.

Now, when Edward had just initiated our fifteenth kiss on our way down on Wednesday night, I knew I'd have to make a stand. Every time before this I had let Edward kiss me first, and subsequently direct our kiss. I still had an ingrained fear of rejection that kept me from taking the lead.

But now I knew I had to show him I could. Not because I didn't enjoy the shit out of feeling him cover my body with his and him having his wicked way with me. I did. I just needed him to know that I could own his ass just as well as he owned mine every night, if the mood should strike me. Which it really, _really _was.

So when Edward pushed me against the wall, my handbag and his briefcase already thrown carelessly on the floor, I yanked my head back from his searching lips.

I was momentarily deterred from my owning-his-ass plan when I saw the pain, rejection and confusion that lanced across his face at my actions._ Surely_ my simple withdrawal from him shouldn't cause that. I must have been imagining the intensity of his emotions.

"Enough." I told him sharply, determined to make him understand I wasn't ever going to stop this. He literally flinched at my words, and I think he thought I meant enough of whatever fucked up thing we had going on between us.

Because he was frozen, it was easy for me to quickly use the lapels of his jacket to reverse our positions, so that he was backed against the wall. Another painful look, this one of hope, lit up his eyes when I leant in so I could whisper against his mouth.

"Enough of you being in control for now." The look of hope turned into relief, which quickly transformed into a look of savage lust as he processed what I had said.

My hands ran across the thin fabric of his shirt, and I purposely let my thumbs graze his nipples hard. _Once_. His jaw clenched. _Again_. His hand shot out to hold down the close door button. _Again_. He drew in a sharp breath, and when he released it, it was in a dry sob.

"Yes, Bella, yes, whatever you want..."

I silenced him with my mouth. As I pressed my tongue into his, I let my hands splay down and across the impressive muscles of his abdomen, feeling them contract and tense with his desire.

He didn't fight my control as I let my tongue explore every centimeter of his mouth, but I could feel his acceptance at being the recipient waning when I crammed my hands into his bronze hair, tugging hard, because I'd already figured out just how much he liked that. I tugged again, so his head was tilted, and used the new angle to explore more of his mouth, while Edward's tongue expertly and eagerly licked and sucked at mine.

After a minute my lungs were bursting, so I broke away and started kissing his exquisite jaw line. Edward had actually been quite the gentleman in terms of wandering hands, but I had no qualms about being a lady, so I let my other hand claw down his shoulders, earning me a wracking shudder from him, until it was in his back pocket, firmly squeezing his ass. _And how was I still a virgin when there was an ass like this in the world?_

"Oh God..." he groaned, and I really like being able to ring that sound out of him, and I sure wanted to hear more of them, so I did what felt natural to me and let my tongue run along the heated skin of his neck.

At the feeling of my warm tongue flat against his skin, his hips pushed automatically forward, which was something he had resisted until now. Either way, I was purposely keeping my hips at a distance from his, so there was no friction to be had. I bit down on his skin teasingly, light enough that there wouldn't be a bruise, even though I wanted nothing more then to mark him like an animal.

"Bella..." only it wasn't a beseeching groan anymore. It was a growled warning.

He didn't like me teasing him. _Well too bad, Edward._ _This is what you get for unknowingly teasing me for four months, then for treating me like crap for a week, and then for finally deciding to flirt back_. Clearly, I had some major trust issues, though with his bi-polar behavior, it wasn't surprising.

So even though I really just wanted to attack him, I stepped back and shot him an overtly fake apologetic look.

"Sorry, I'll stop if you want." I told him innocently, but we both knew I hadn't mistaken his warning.

He angrily released the close-door button, and since we had already been at garage level for a minute, (not that either of us noticed the elevator coming to a stop anymore) the door opened straight away.

He scooped up my handbag, and I could see the extra effort it cost him to be gentle when he handed it to me. The dark look he shot at me, as he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and waited for me to walk ahead of him, reinforced his diminishing control.

_Lose control, Edward… _

_I want you to._

Instead he walked right behind me to the car, his internal-warring not allowing for the usual hand on the small of my back.

When he slammed both mine and his own door behind him, and backed out recklessly, I knew there wasn't any chance for conversation.

This was a shame, because in the last week and a half, I'd discovered I liked talking with Edward almost as much as I liked kissing him. Okay, well no, nowhere _near_ as much as I liked kissing him, but more then I liked doing anything else.

Edward had joined his brothers and me everyday for lunch, and because we spent most of our time discussing Alice and Rose, there was even talk of all six of us going out together. Like the greatest triple date in the history of the universe. Between the three of them and their sidesplitting stories, I learnt a lot more about his life growing up in Forks, Washington and about his mother Esme, the only Cullen I hadn't met.

During the day, either while Edward and I got our morning coffee from Jessica, or even occasionally when I rang something through to his office, Edward would always question me about my life and other meaningless details, learning about me too. It would all have been incredibly platonic if it weren't for the fact that he cornered me twice a day and shoved that fantastic tongue down my throat.

I was so focused on my thoughts that I didn't notice we were going the wrong way until we had been driving for ten minutes.

"Um..." I gestured around, silently asking. I figured silence was the best option considering how I'd put up another nominated performance for cock-tease extraordinaire.

"I'm hungry." He snapped in response, but he could have looked at me like I was pond scum right then and I would have still done the Chicken Dance in my head.

_Edward Cullen was taking me to dinner_.

Considering I had been sorely missing our verbal flirting lately, I decided I felt confident enough to go for it again. He _was _taking my lucky ass to dinner, after all.

"We're getting something to eat?" I questioned in my best prompt good employee voice.

"Correct." He agreed, in a tone that just dared me to ask him to turn around.

"Oh, that's a shame." Oh yeah, that wasn't professionally distant Bella voice. That was phone-sex Bella voice. "I thought we might've been taking a shortcut to your place."

He muttered a string of something in what sounded like Greek, probably cursing me to the Ninth Circle of Hell, before he pulled over to a valet parking area outside a nice looking restaurant, _La Bella Italia_.

Edward was watching me with hooded, contemplative eyes as the valet helped me out of the car, making me want to squirm insecurely under the scrutiny. I was wearing a tight black silk blouse tucked into a pencil black skirt, but his inspection made me feel like I was naked and under a spotlight.

Neither of us spoke as we went in, but his hand was on the small of my back again, which I had craved alarmingly after missing it before, so I presumed we were past the swearing in foreign languages stage of the evening. The restaurant was beautiful, lit only by candles, each table seemingly in their own little bubble. I realized that there were only couples here, and I made a mental note to myself to mention this to the girls when I was describing this to them in my play-by-play of the night's events.

Thinking about them reminded me that I needed to call to say I wouldn't be home for dinner. By the time Edward and I were seated opposite each other in an intimate, high-walled booth, I was already dialing.

"We need milk." Rose answered the phone, never having been one for pleasantries.

"Hey, Ro," I said, sending Edward a reassuring smile when he frowned questioningly at me. "I'm just grabbing a bite to eat, so I'll be home a little later. Okay?"

"Holy Hell in a Handbag, you're on a date with your hunky man-crush?!"

"Okay, sure, I'll get milk. Bye now."

The second I hung-up, Edward shot me a remorseful look, and I saw his fists clench over the table, like he wanted to grab my hand but didn't think I'd let him.

"I'm sorry," he told me in his smooth voice, "I brought you here without asking. You probably had plans. That was incredibly inconsiderate of me...I was just feeling-"

"Like I had jumped you in an elevator and then teased you shamelessly?" I offered, in a deadpan voice. I couldn't help the smile that came up when Edward laughed, though.

"I see," he said softly, leaning forward and looking at me with warm eyes. "I guess I should know better by now then to mince words with you."

"I'm sure you'll be able to handle me eventually," I taunted with my sauciest grin.

He grinned widely, indicating he had no issue picking up the sexual gauntlet I had just thrown down.

"Well in that case, you're answering my questions for the rest of the evening. I'll need as much ammunition as possible."

Then, to my surprise, he started questioning me about everything from my favorite books to my opinion on the current Economic crisis. I tried to turn his questions around on him, but he'd repeatedly shake his head and tell me he wanted to know all about _me _tonight.

In between the main course and dessert, Edward used his free hands to touch the wrist of the hand I had laying on the table. It looked like he had to work up to touching me, which I thought was insane. He _had _been macking on me for eight days now.

But then I could kind of see how this was a big step; all he did was run his fingers over the soft skin on the inside of my wrist, but combined with the way he had been staring at me all evening with frank arousal in his eyes, it felt like he was doing a _lot_ more.

He was perfectly articulate while staring and touching, but I was pretty certain I was stuttering and blushing through all the questions he asked me. The smirk on his face confirmed this, and I could practically sense the bastard's satisfaction. He wanted to tease me back.

I couldn't have that shit.

Not tonight, when it was _my _night for owning him. I wasn't ready to relinquish control quite yet.

I waited until the dessert was served, not wanting any interruptions for the devious plan I had just come up with. By then, we were discussing my growing up with Alice and Rose.

"So you were really the tomboy?" He asked, and I got the same pleasurable feeling I had gotten all week at how genuinely interested he seemed in details of my life.

I kicked my heels off so I was just in my stockings, and considered how best to go about this. In movies they always did the slow, subtle, foot-up-the-leg warm up, but Edward and I has yet to do anything slow or subtle. _What the hell_.

"Completely," I answered him, "actually, only Alice was interested in dressing gender appropriately. Rose was too busy fixing cars and I was too busy thinking Velvet Underground were God's."

"Velvet Underground?" he sounded pleased, but I barely noticed as I took a large gulp of my wine for a little Dutch courage. Then I ran both my feet up the inside of his thighs and pressed them directly against his crotch.

Edward's whole body jerked and I could feel the bloom of heat against the soles of my feet. Almost as if picking up a signal from his body, I felt myself becoming wet, and I could feel my nipples harden.

"Wait, Bella...what?" His voice was a choked, surprised gasp, and I could feel his hands on my feet, though he didn't move to push them off.

I wriggled my toes experimentally against him and he groaned out my name in defeat.

"You like Velvet underground?" I promoted, while teasing him by running just the tips of my toes up and down him.

"Yes they were..._shit_." I had pressed the arches of my feet flat against him, causing him to break off and swear through clenched teeth.

"You didn't like them, then?" I grinned tauntingly.

He gave me a sinister look in response to my teasing, so I began rubbing my feet up and down in apology, making sure I was moving against the whole of his _very_ hard cock. He leant back, spreading his knees so I had more room, and I flexed my toes and arched my feet.

"Yes, _Angel_..." He gasped at that, so I kept doing it, all the while moving up and down. We were both silent besides his heavy breathing, and when he occasionally moaned my name, but anyone who took a good look at Edward's flushed cheeks and heavy-lidded eyes would know exactly what was happening.

His eyes were dancing over the exposed skin of my neck and arms, over my face, over my hardened nipples under my shirt, usually coming back to my lips.

When I saw his gaze there again, I purposely picked up my spoon and turned my head slightly to the side so he could see my tongue wrap around it and curl the chocolate mousse into my mouth, while at the same time I pushed harder against him and rolled my feet up his length.

"_Fuck_." He swore in a shuddering voice, his hips shifting towards me.

His hands clasped down on my ankles, and then I was no longer moving against him, now _he_ was rubbing his straining cock against the soles of my feet.

"_Bella_...so good...going to make me..." he managed to hiss out a few barely coherent words under his breath, and I just couldn't believe how much this was turning me on, seeing Edward's body rock forwards as he pleasured himself.

I leant over the table at the same time I focused my toes on the head of his cock. His own hand started rubbing the remainder of his length automatically, and if those dual sensations weren't enough to do it, I licked my lips and whispered, "I wish it was my mouth around your thick cock right now."

_That_ did it. Edward pushed up against his hand and my toes, his eyes rolled into the back of his head, and his teeth bit into his bottom lip.

He slumped down in his seat, exhausted, his fingers coming up to massage the arches of my feet, his touch feeling almost reverent in its gentleness. It took him a minute before he could speak again, and when he did, he wasn't exactly Captain Articulation.

"Wow," he muttered, his head lolling back as he looked at me with sleepy eyes.

"Thank you." I said smugly, playing with my dessert and rubbing my hips together. I was so wet that my panties were soaked and my body was throbbing.

His lazy, contented face narrowed slightly as realization hit him.

"You really think _you _control _me_, my little Angel?" He questioned me darkly, his hands now sliding up my calves, the pads of his fingers pressing hard into my skin.

How he could call me an Angel when I'd just used the words "thick cock" was beyond me, but I answered with nothing more then a superiorly raised eyebrow.

"You do?" Edward laughed darkly, licking his lips in anticipation, "Well I promise you, Bella, you'll be feeling the effects of _my_ control by the time I drop you off tonight."

_Alrighty then_.

I'd never been so happy to hand over the reins before.

**

* * *

So yeah.**

**That was totally a foot job.**

**100 reviews=update.**


	13. Erogenous Zones

**So apparently it only takes like 20 minutes for 100 reviews, which means no day off again. You guys really want me to fail Psych huh?**

**I'm so glad you like the randomness which is the foot job. My boyfriend snuck a glance at what I was writing and totally wants to try that now, and I actually think he expects me to try that shit in a friggin restaurant with him. How nuts is that?!**

**150 reviews=update, which I hope you guys can do, cause then I can avoid going to dinner with the bf!**

**

* * *

BPOV.**

"_You do, hmm? Well I promise you, Bella, you'll be feeling the effects of _my_ control by the time I drop you off tonight."_

Edward had to go to the Men's room to clean himself up when we finished dessert, and I couldn't help but grin at him in amusement, even though he'd basically just told me he'd have me eating out of the palm of his hand before the end of the night.

When he smirked back at me, I dropped my grin immediately. His smirk was to remind me that I had set him a sexual challenge that he had every intention of winning.

_Well I wasn't going down without a fight. Pun intended._

The second he disappeared into the Men's room, I sprinted in my four-inch heels to the Ladies like a madwoman. There was an older woman in there, who gave me a somewhat haughty "good evening".

"Isn't it though?" I replied, shocking the hell out of her when I shimmied out of my stockings right there in front of her. The second I was free of them, and after the old lady had left with a scandalized look, I removed my panties and then put my stockings back on. Let's see whose eyes are rolling into the back of their head when Edward found _that_.

I tried not to analyze the fact that I was expecting Edward to get a look under my skirt tonight, or whether he realized I was still a virgin, or why he was _really _avoiding me two weeks ago, or what would happen if he found out I intentionally set out to seduce him. I didn't have answers to any of my "what if's?" so I pushed them into the back of my head.

I took one quick look in the mirror as I binned my knickers, smushing my hair a little to give it the Edward-And-Bella-Sexy-Times-Ahead look I was going for.

By the time Edward exited the Men's, I was leaning provocatively against a pillar in the foyer, hip thrust out, chest thrust out, and probably looking like a by-the-hour hooker.

Well if I was, the look in Edward's eyes as he came over and slid a hand around my waist told me he'd not only hire me for the hour, but that we'd end up going at it on top of a piano a la' _Pretty Woman_.

His thumb began running soothing little circles on my hip; while his fingers were curled so far around that they were practically between my legs. Guess he was ready to take back control, because I had never been held so possessively in public before.

Edward pulled me into him as we waited for the valet to retrieve his car, and with a forceful hand he tipped my neck so he could attack it with his mouth.

"Are you alright, love?" he asked, in between licking, actually fucking _licking_, my neck. "Only you look a little flushed."

"I'm fine." _You jerk_. He knew exactly what he was doing to me. He suddenly shifted my hair over one shoulder, so that the tips of his fingers could massage the back of my neck. I clapped my mouth shut so I wouldn't drool over my expensive heels.

"Did you know..." he asked me then, after licking the lobe of my ear, so that his hot breath was stimulating the wet area, "...that both the earlobe and the base of your neck are erogenous zones?"

"No, I didn't know that, you...you..." I tried to sound harsh, but it came out breathy, and he did this combination of squeezing the back of my neck while biting down on the skin where my jaw met my ear, and then it was only his arm around my waist that kept me from swaying.

"Calling me names, Angel?" He tutted, and thank God the valet was still retrieving his car, because his hand trailed down, over the swell of my breast, down my waist until it was flat against where I wanted it most. He couldn't curve his palm to cup me, because my skirt was so tight, but I knew if he could, he would be.

"As I was saying, when I touch you here," his fingers squeezed my neck, "and lick you here," his tongue touched my earlobe again, "you feel it here." And he rubbed his hand lightly between my legs. "Correct?"

"What, did you take anatomy 101, professor?" I snarled, because, _oh-fucking-yeah_, that was correct. Though, I mean, if Edward did anything, whether it be lick my ear or ask me where the stapler was, I felt it in my tingly parts.

"Why, you offering yourself to the class?" The witty bastard smirked, though he shouldn't feel so smug when I could already feel his recovered hardness against my side.

The car came then, which was lucky, because if it had taken another second _I _would have probably been then one who was coming.

I pushed him off, acting as if it was the momentum of doing so that had me swaying slightly, and quipped, "well, if it _is_ in the name of scientific research..."

Once the valet had me seated in the car, and Edward had tipped the man generously, he reached over so his hand was on my thigh, above my skirt, and began driving.

"May I ask you a personal question?" Edward asked, after a minute. I wanted to nod, but his hand, which was actually quite innocently rubbing my thigh, was pushing all coherent responses away.

I must have made some kind of noise that sounded like an affirmative, because he turned and said in a deadly serious voice, "I know that Em and Jasper are dating your roommates now, but I was wondering whether...I mean, those flowers that one of them sent you?"

_Please, please let him be jealous._

"I thought you guys told each other everything?" I asked, surprised. Because how else would Jasper and Emmett have known all about Edward's love life?

My question seemed to make Edward hesitate, and he was obviously being very careful when he replied, "to an extent. We all have our secrets."

Well, wasn't that the crux of all my trust issues with this man. Because clearly, when he said that "we" have secrets, he meant himself.

"The flowers were from both of them. To thank me for setting them up with the girls. Do you think I give the foot massage to just anyone?"

"I certainly hope not," he replied smugly, "and I'm glad about the flowers; I would have hated having to go after my own flesh-and-blood with a pickaxe."

I giggled, like a little girl whose crush was paying attention to her (which was what was essentially fucking happening), but stopped when I felt his hand suddenly sliding along my thigh, _under_ my skirt.

"Am I bothering you, darling?" He asked me innocently, in response to my laughter cutting off so abruptly.

"No" I all but squeaked. Edward's fingers were running along the inside of my thighs over my silk stockings, getting closer and closer to the Promised Land.

"Delightful to hear. Now lift your hips for me, please." _What was it about him telling me to do something scandalous in that polite tone that made me a blubbering mess_?

I lifted my hips, and he used his deft hand to push the constriction of my skirt back, so that it was in a heap around my waist.

He withdrew his hand momentarily so he could complete a complicated turn, and I noticed how close we were to my place. Then I noticed his darkened eyes between my legs, before he turned back to the road and replaced his hand on my thigh.

"You're not wearing anything underneath those." Edward rasped, his hand squeezing a little tighter as it trailed back up my leg.

_Snap for Bella_.

"That's not going to be a problem for you, is it?" I asked him in my most challenging voice.

Edward was pulling into my parking garage by then, which was empty of human inhabitants, and he somehow found a spot in the corner, against the wall, where we'd be relatively secluded. As soon as the car was turned off Edward was removing his belt and was positioning himself in his seat so that he was kneeling, facing me.

"You still want a lesson in control, then so be it."

He used the lever under my seat to push it back. I turn my head from the ceiling so I could still see him, and I watch the silent snarl he had as he reached forward and rips my stockings in half. He made quick work of them, letting my heels fall to the floor as he removed the offending material.

Edward brought his fisted hand up between my legs, and I could feel one of his knuckles grazing my clit and another practically entering me. My eyes rolled into the back of my head and I licked my lips, superstitiously checking for drool again.

"You're so swollen and wet. Does teasing me do this to you?" He leered at me. _Edward Cullen was looking at me like I was a piece of meat_. I mentally thanked every deity I could think of, from Buddha to Superman.

Then I could only nod in response, because his frank assessment of my current state of arousal was only increasing it.

"Have you perhaps noticed that I have particularly long fingers, Bella?" He wriggled said digits in front of my face, while I wriggled in my chair. "As a child, they were useful in helping me become a skilled pianist. As an adult...well, lets just say I found _other_ uses for them."

Then, without warning, he plunged his index finger into me, past the knuckle, with his other fingers nudging the sensitive flesh around my opening, and his thumb grazed just to the left of my clit.

My back immediately arched, towards the sensation, because though I'd had this done to me before, he was right, he did have _very _long fingers.

He kept his finger still for a while, no doubt sensing through the tightness of my body that I would need to adjust to it.

"Can you spread your legs, please? I'd like to see your beautiful pussy drenched for me."

He was using the polite but heated tone again, and I couldn't help but comply. I looked into his eyes, making sure to capture his stare as I brazenly widened my legs (as much as I could in the confined space). The second I did, his gaze flickered down to the crux of my opened legs, and then he was just staring at me for an instant like I was dinner and he was a starving man.

His finger withdrew until it was just his tip grazing my skin, and then it was plunged quickly back in. While he watched in what looked like painful fucking_ hunger_, he repeated the action again and again, fucking me with that amazing finger.

I was watching the muscles in his forearm as he moved his hand, and listening to how his breathing was almost as heavy as mine, and the wet sound of his finger moving, and I knew this was the most amazing moment anyone had ever had in the entire world. And then I was imaging what it would be like to have his cock replace his finger, which caused me to wriggle down towards him in the hopes of getting more friction.

In response to my silent plea, Edward slowly allowed another finger to join the first, stretching me to accommodate them. When he began moving that one in time with the other, we both groaned in pleasure.

"_Fuck_ Bella, you're incredibly wet....and so _very_ tight. I can barely move my fingers inside you."

"Mmm, imagine how good it'll feel around your cock." I couldn't help but reply, because that was exactly what I was imaging.

He snarled, an almost inhuman sound, and then his plunging fingers were withdrawn. Before I could even whimper from the loss, he was pulling me out of my seat and into his, which he tipped back so it was all but horizontal.

Then he lay back, and pulled me so _my thighs were straddling his head_. I'd never done _that_ before, and I yelped in shock and embarrassment, as one of his hands held my thigh steady, and the other used fingers to open my dripping folds.

"Edward what..._FUCK_." Before I could even finish speaking, his tongue was replacing his fingers, pushing deep inside of me, and I'd already known from our elevator incidents that he had a long tongue, but now I _really _knew it. The embarrassment was instantly forgotten in lieu of the new and amazing pleasure.

He kept thrusting his tongue up quickly, then curling it back down, then thrusting up again, over and over until only his strong hand on my thigh kept me from pushing down on his face. With his spare hand, he was flicking my clit in time with each upward thrust of his tongue.

"Oh...Edward....please...please don't stop..."

As soon as my moaned plea was out, his tongue withdrew, only to be replaced by two of his fingers again, which he held still inside me.

He was breathing hot air over my clit, and I heard his rasping voice, "I want that pretty little pussy to clench on my fingers, I want to lick you dry, but you have to tell me whose in control first, Bella."

His fingers were moving shallowly, barely giving me enough stimulation, and it was through a growl of pure frustration that I admitted, "you are. You're controlling me."

"_My _Angel..." he groaned, before his fingers curled inside me, hitting a new spot, and he bit down on my clit.

Something dark and wonderful rose in me and I was moaning his name so loudly that if there had been anyone in the garage they would have easily heard me. I felt Edward's fingers withdraw at the same time his tongue started lapping up all my wetness, just like he'd said he would.

My whole body slumped forward as I rode out my orgasm, with Edward still licking me out, while I could feel his hips jerking upwards, searching desperately to rub on anything.

When he was done, Edward gently lowered me so I was straddling his waist, though his hands became firm when I tried to wriggle a little lower. I don't think he could handle me straddling his erection right now.

I wasn't ready to lift my head yet, so I just let it slump against Edward's chest. My breathing began evening out as I listened to him moan while he licked the outside of his lips and sucked on his fingers.

"You taste like heaven, _my_ little Angel." He said when I finally managed to look up at him. The emphasis he put on "my" stirred something scary and primal in me.

Because I knew it would drive him crazy, and because I was genuinely curious, I leant over and pressed my lips to his. He made a keening sound in his throat and licked my lip, begging me for entrance. I opened my mouth to him and enveloped his tongue, sucking my juices off him. When I automatically wriggled down so I was over his cock, Edward broke away from me, gasping.

"Please, Bella. Stop please." I couldn't help it when I moved, because he just felt so amazing, hard and probing against my inflamed flesh. Edward's hands closed around my waist and quickly lifted me back up again.

"But you're right, Edward. I do taste _good_." I moaned, not even teasing him anymore when I tried to wiggle out of his grasp, just desperate to have him rubbing against me.

He shook his head and closed his eyes, as if trying to block me out, his hand flexing on my waist.

"Bella, please stop, Sweetheart. I don't want our first time to be in my car. And I won't be able to help myself if you keep moving..." I did as he asked and Edward let out a groan of frustration, trying to resist me. I felt high with the power, because as much as he controlled me, I clearly had some sway over him, too.

"Thank you. Now I wanted to ask you something, teasing and pretences aside, but we always seem to get side-tracked, don't we?" Edward chuckled at that, though it was still strained.

I put my palms flat on his chest and rested my chin on them, showing him that I was giving him my utmost attention.

"Well, I'm all yours now." Several emotions passed over his face at my words, but they were gone too quickly for me to pinpoint them.

"Good to hear." He whispered, stroking my hair down my back as he continued. "I owe you an apology. I'm always doing things the wrong way with you." I frowned; he seemed to be talking about more then the past couple of weeks.

"I don't mind." I told him, though I didn't really understand what he meant. If he was talking about our daily tongue wars, then I really _didn't _mind at all.

"Anyway, I was wondering what you were doing this Friday night?"

I rolled my eyes at him, as he evidently didn't listen to a word I said to him at work. "I'm free, Edward, _you_, on the other hand, have a charity ball to attend at the Museum of Natural History."

Edward looked at me as if I were missing something very obvious. I blushed, wondering how I could go from playing vixen to being clueless as to normal social cues in under an hour.

"You want me to come with you?" I guessed.

"I want you to be my date." He clarified, obviously feeling the exact wording needed to be used.

I squirmed on top of him in pleasure, cause the man had just made me orgasm like a crazy woman, and now he wanted me on his arm, _officially,_ for a date. Could life get any better?

Yep, apparently it could, because next second his strong arms wrapped around me, and I found myself lying with my back flat in the seat with him hovering between my legs.

"I warned you not to move," he growled, roughly lowering himself so his large body was crammed between my legs. Only the thin material of his pants separated his probing erection from my eager flesh, and I couldn't believe how much I wanted him to just...let go and take me.

His hands caught the insides of my hips, pushing them open, before one hand went to the zip on his pants.

"Do it..." I gasped, hitching my legs around his waist. My lower half was completely exposed to him, and now the look on his face was almost psychotic.

Edward's hand was actually lowering his zip, the other one coming up to rub my breast, when I heard a metallic ringing.

He violently ripped the offending instrument out of his pocket and looked at the called Id of his phone.

"Emmett's fucking work line...of all the bad timing..." his fingers were rolling my nipple contemplatively, and he clearly didn't want to answer, but we both knew it was incredibly odd for Emmett to still be at the office at this time of night.

He finally swore loudly and answered the phone, not letting Emmett get a word in.

"Listen to me, you fucking bear, I actually have _Bella_ pinned underneath me right now, seriously: _Bella_, so unless you're lying in a pool of your own blood I...I...oh, hello father."

_Well shit_.

Daddy Cullen was back in town.

**

* * *

What will Carlisle have to say about his youngest son pinning his personal assistant? The shit's about to hit the fan!**

**And seriously though, have you _seen _Robert Pattinson's fingers? Cause they are the greatest fingers in the entire world, and totally what I was picturing when writing this chapter.**

**150 reviews = update.**


	14. Daddy Issues

**Can't even tell you how insanely happy your comments are making me. I'm glad you all loved dirty talking Edward, because there's a LOT more of that shit to come.**

**Next chapter is EPOV, promise. Would have been this chapter, but I had to split the last chapter into two. My bad. And I've already started it, and he had a hot ass mind.**

**I'm going to stick with 150 reviews=update, even though it takes you fantastic folk like two minutes to do that.**

**

* * *

BPOV.**

_Well shit. Daddy Cullen was back in town_.

I was incredibly nervous while I waited for Edward to pick me up on Thursday morning.

The conversation that he had with his father last night had lasted all of two minutes, and I had gotten the distinct impression that Carlisle was calling from Emmett's line because that was the only way he could guarantee Edward would answer.

From what I could hear of Edward's voice, he had been strained and barely civil, which didn't mesh with the way Emmett and Jasper talked about Carlisle. The most obvious difference was the formal way Edward said "father" compared to Jasper and Emmett calling him "dad". Or sometimes on Emmett's end even a joking "daddy".

That left me with the understanding that it was something on Edward's part that made the relationship difficult, though I was going by circumstantial evidence. It could also have simply been the fact that his father had called just as a very sexually frustrated Edward was about to hump me in his front seat, but again, I wasn't sure about anything.

As much as I had tried to be mortified by Edward basically telling Carlisle, his father, and my overall boss, that he was going to screw me, my brain couldn't help but come back to the amazing things Edward and I had done to each other. Having to relive everything word for word with the girls last night hadn't helped either.

All I could think about was Edward staring at me when he came at dinner, and the way he said "pussy" like the only reason I had one was for him to bring me pleasure.

I was actually disappointed that Carlisle had interrupted, because he had completely ruined whatever mood there was between Edward and I. We had said an embarrassed, but still heated, goodbye to each other as soon as Carlisle had hung up.

Alice had been shocked that I was willing to hand in my V-card in the front seat of a Volvo in a parking garage, until Rose had pointed out that _both_ of them lost their virginity in the back seat of a car in high school, at the drive-in, no less. I mean, how cliché is that shit?

My mind was going over every dirty thing Edward had said to me last night when he knocked quietly on my door, so it didn't shock me at all that my first reaction was to fling the door open, close it behind me, push him against it and shove my tongue past his lips.

When I broke away for air and looked up at him from under my eyelashes, he banged his head back against the door in defeat.

"_Jesus. Fuck. Shit_. So much for being good today."

Then I was the one with my back against the door, his thigh had slipped between my legs, my hands were being held above my head in one of his, and his other was roughly palming my breast.

"Do you like that?" He asked, his forehead resting against mine as he watched his hand touching me. I was wearing a thin tight black, silk dress, and only had on a sheer bra underneath, so my hardening nipples answered his question for him. I could feel a part of his anatomy hardening against my thigh in correspondence.

"Do you know _why_ you like that so much, Sweetheart?" He whispered, his lips directly against mine, as he continued rubbing my breast. "Because your body is in _my _control."

I would have loved nothing more then to deny that, but the fact of the matter was that Edward Cullen controlled me mind, body, and – most terrifying of all – soul.

He pressed his lips into mine, letting his tongue snake out when my mouth opened. He did this amazing thing where he wrapped his tongue around mine and tugged, and suddenly I was hitching my leg up and around his. Edward caught it by the back of the knee and moved himself so he was between my legs, and I was almost freaked out how easily I could give this man a raging hard-on.

When he broke away and started trailing hot kisses over my exposed skin, I pushed my body against his erection and gasped, "do you know why you're so hard, Edward? Because your body is in my control, too."

To his credit, he didn't even attempt to deny it, merely panting, "Yes, _yes _darling."

Then somehow my phone was ringing, the first few buttons of my dress were undone, both of Edward's hands were inside my bra and fondling my bare breasts, and he was rocking himself against me in time to his tongue in my mouth.

I reluctantly broke away from Edward's insistent kiss, trying to ignore the way he was still massaging my now sensitive peaks and staring at me with eyes glazed over with desire.

"Isabella S-Swan here." I answered the phone breathlessly. Breathless, because Edward was still rocking his wonderfully amazing, give-it-a-fucking-award cock against my now wet centre. I sent what I hoped was a frown at him, but he didn't stop, instead trying to engage my mouth again.

"Oh, hi Miss. Swan, it's Miss. Stanley here." I turned my head; breaking the kiss Edward had easily persuaded me into again. Jessica had _never _called me Miss. Swan before, and to hear her call herself Miss. Stanley was almost ridiculous. Plus, I don't think she'd _ever _beaten Edward or me to the office before.

"What's up, Jess?" I asked, as Edward very reluctantly slid his hands out of my bra and stopped moving against me.

"Umm," Jessica sounded nervous, and the reason for her nervousness hit me like a bucket of ice water with her next words, "well, it's just that you guys are almost half an hour late and Mr. Cullen is waiting to see his son."

"No problem, Jess. Don't panic, we'll be there in about ten minutes." I tried to button up my dress one handed, but Edward playfully slapped my hands away and swiftly did it for me, a questioning look on his face.

"Hurry, Bella, he intimidates the crap out of me and he looks really annoyed." She whispered, increasing my sense of dread.

"What's wrong?" Edward asked as soon as I hung up.

I grabbed his hand and dragged him to the elevator, loving that we were at a stage were I could do random stuff like hold his hand and he'd be more then fine with it.

"Look at the time, Sunshine." I told him dryly, and then rolled my eyes when he looked at his Omega. The smile that lit up his face made him look like an excited twelve year-old, endearing him to me even more.

"I was just feeling Isabella Marie Swan up in a hallway for twenty minutes." He announced proudly, making me wonder if his memory was so good that he knew my middle name from my employee transcripts.

"You sure were," I agreed, "now your _father_ has been waiting in your office for just as long."

That killed his smile.

* * *

When Edward and I stepped off the elevator, there was a meter of space between us; though we both knew that wouldn't have Carlisle second-guessing Edward's words on the phone last night.

I had met Carlisle a few times before, but he had been in the building less and less over the past few months, pushing forward his retirement plan. The times I had met him, he had been a lot more like Edward then Jasper and Emmett. He kept me at the same professional distance Edward had, though he was just as kind.

There was none of that kindness now, as he got up gracefully from one of the couches in my office and looked at his youngest son.

"Edward." He greeted him shortly, giving him nothing but a nod of his handsome head. No hug, not even a freakin' handshake.

Something was definitely up between hottie son and hottie father, and I don't think it was just me.

"Father." Edward was just as short. "You remember Bella Swan."

Right, so we weren't going to acknowledge the elephant in the room. I held my hand out to Carlisle, who, to my surprise, took it in two of his own and looked at me warmly.

"Pleasure to see you again, Miss. Swan," he smiled at me, and it was such a _dad _smile that I couldn't help but timidly smile back.

All of his hostility had melted away the when he looked at me, but the second Edward pointedly cleared his throat, Carlisle dropped my hand and turned to glare at him.

"Your office?" But it wasn't really a question, and Edward gave his father the most defiant look I'd seen since I saw Russell Crowe in _Gladiator_. I was half expecting him to start bellowing, "are you entertained?" at the top of his lungs.

"That's fine. Hold my calls, please, Angel."

Both Carlisle and I blanched at Edward calling me Angel, because really, what the hell was he thinking, but Carlisle's face quickly transformed to thunderous when we saw Edward didn't even _realize_ he had used the pet name.

Carlisle turned and stormed into Edward's office without a word, while Edward shot me a reassuring smile and followed him in, letting the door close on its own behind him.

Jessica came in as soon as Edward and his father had disappeared, and she took one look at my shell-shocked face before she accused, "You are _totally_ boning our bone-worthy boss, aren't you?"

I turned my gaping face from the door to Jessica, and she let out a squeal of shock. "You are! I could practically _hear _him panting in the background when I called you before! I bet he's amazing, is he amazing?! He has to be with all the women he's been linked to!"

Because my shock was keeping me from thinking logically, I admitted, "I think his dad and him are having a fight over the whole thing."

Jessica looked at the door, back at me, then at the door again. Then, God bless the conniving cow, she picked up a file marked urgent on my desk.

"Newton left this here before you came in, he said Mr. Cullen – the younger one – needed to sign off on it a-sap. I can totally go and listen at the door, and if they catch me I'll pretend I was about to knock for Edward."

I couldn't believe that I found myself nodding an affirmative to this, and actually listening to Jessica when she told me to go get a coffee so it wouldn't look suspicious. I debated with my morals while I knocked back an espresso, but my curiosity easily won the debate.

When I came back in fifteen minutes later Jessica was at her desk, not catching my eye.

"Go in, I think Mr. Cullen is waiting for you. Call me when you're alone." Jessica told me hurriedly, when I had veered to her desk. It didn't escape my notice that she looked nervous, and the shock I was feeling transformed into panic.

What if Carlisle told Edward he couldn't see me? How could I possibly give him up now? Or, just as bad, what if Carlisle fired me? I was only on a year of work experience, being fired from that would be all kinds of catastrophic for my future employment options.

When I went through the glass doors to my office, Edward was sitting on the edge of my desk, waiting for me, smiling as he looked at one of my picture frames. He looked completely at ease, even more so when he caught my eye.

"Did everything go okay?" I asked him immediately, grimacing as I realized he was holding a shot of me at twelve with my mum.

"You were a cute kid. I bet all the boys were running after you." He put the frame down and pulled me so I was standing between his thighs.

"What did your father say?" I asked, as he buried his face in my neck. Surely nothing _too _bad had happened if Edward was touching me like this? Though I'm positive my opinion on how wonderful the world was changed the minute he did touched me, so I couldn't really tell.

"Your heart is beating so fast," he muttered, before sucking on the skin above my pulse. I tried to hold onto my mind, but his mouth on me felt so damn good, and I could feel him waking-up against my belly, and his thighs were so warm around me.

"Not too good at this whole running conversation thing, are you?" I snapped, but he just laughed and cupped my face in his hands.

"Kiss me. Kiss me like you did in the car last night." He leant in when I opened my mouth to protest, and grinned wickedly. "And _don't_ pretend you've forgotten."

Needless to say, a minute later I was pinned against the wall.

* * *

I didn't get a chance to call Jessica until Edward had to run downstairs at 5pm for a board meeting; which had been called purely because Daddy Cullen was in the house.

I would have been able to call her earlier, but Edward kept the door to his office wide open, and we each had a perfect view of the other while we worked. Neither of us was very productive, but it was completely worth it to see him get flustered when I sucked on my pen. Though, he got me back by playing with the rim of his coffee cup so seductively I had to grip the side of my chair to keep from getting up.

The second Edward disappeared through the door I was hitting the intercom button to Jessica's desk.

"Tell me _everything _you heard, Jess." I demanded, before she could even speak.

I heard her reluctant sigh, which wasn't good at all, because Jessica was the biggest gossip I knew and if she was withholding something from me it must be _bad_.

She hung up, and then she was walking through to sit in one of the chairs in front of my desk. I could tell straight away that it was going to either take some significant coaxing and/or threatening to get to what she knew, which was ironic considering it _was_ Jessica.

Cutting to the chase, I told her firmly, "I want to know everything you heard, and I promise no one will find out, and that I won't hold anything against you. Please, Jess."

Jessica took a deep breath, absorbing all of that, "Okay. But please don't shoot the messenger or anything. By the time I started listening, Edward was speaking in the creepy calm voice he uses when he's mad," which was the same voice he used when he was turned-on, but I wasn't about to tell her that, "and he was telling Carlisle how he wasn't going to give 'it' up, which I presume meant you and him. Then Carlisle shot back that Edward 'already had the evidence of one mistake in his top drawer, did he really want to make the same one?'"

I was incredibly confused, because what mistake could be in Edward's drawer that had anything to do with me? Jessica shot me a remorseful look and then explained further, ripping my heart out in the process.

"So Edward said back 'don't call Angela a mistake, I still see her every week' and then Carlisle sounded like Edward had just proved his point for him, and was like 'exactly. It looks like you're fucking your way through your assistants – more then one at a time, no less.' Then Edward totally kicked him out of his office."

It was at least five minutes that we sat there in silence after that, while I processed what Jessica had said.

"Don't tell anyone any of that, please Jess." Eventually I spoke, and it was my pride that demanded her silence. I wouldn't have anyone around the office looking at me with pity, or looking down on me. When she nodded and promised she wouldn't, I actually believed her. I think she could recognize a broken heart.

Numbly, I got up and went into Edward's office, the setting sun casting the white floor and walls in a peculiar orange glow, and I was assaulted by his potent clean soap, fresh shirt, pure Edward smell. I went straight to his top drawer, flicking through the various objects until I found the proof I needed.

It was a picture of Angela Weber, the woman who had been Edward's First Assistant before me. Angela had left for maternity leave and I had been lucky enough to get her job.

She was looking beautiful with a tiny baby in a blue blanket in her arms, and Edward standing behind her, his chin resting on her shoulder. It looked like the perfect couple with their beautiful child, in an embrace that reeked of practiced intimacy. The date stamp in the bottom right hand corner of the picture informed me that it was taken two days after my first kiss with Edward.

I flipped it over, and saw that the note on the back read, _"To darling Edward, the man who's going to make a great daddy. Love, Ang._"

I slipped the photo back into his drawer and closed it. The anger was replacing the numbness, and I knew if I saw Edward before I got it under control, I'd slap the bastard across the face, and then probably kiss him senseless.

Jessica was still sitting at my desk when I came out, looking worried, but I ignored her until I had packed up my handbag and headed to the elevator. I'd take the subway before I got into a car with Edward again. Because as much as I didn't want it to be true, I knew he was still in control of me; mind, body, and soul. The second he touched me my resistance would be shot to hell, no matter how angry and hurt I was feeling.

"Jessica?" I called over my shoulder, as I got into the elevator alone for the first time in two weeks. "Tell Mr. Cullen I went home sick. And inform him he still needs a date for the charity benefit tomorrow night."

If Edward Cullen thought he could be daddy and loving boyfriend to Angela while using me as his whore, he had another thing coming.

I was going to make him pay for this.

Hell hath no fury....

**

* * *

Chill, peoples. The sexing will continue, things will just be getting way angrier and thus WAY hotter. And of course, everything will work out hunky-dorey for them in the end!**

**EPOV is next, and man that boy has a one-track mind!**

**150 reviews= Edward's dirty mind.**


	15. My Angel

**This is a long chapter, because Eddie has a lot to say for himself!**

**All y'all need to stop judging him please, because I promise he will come out of this smelling like roses (much like RPattz does hee hee).**

**150 reviews=update.**

**

* * *

EPOV.**

I was used to waking up this way.

It had been almost five months, five months of this combination between heaven and hell.

Isabella Swan was heaven – but I was in _hell_.

As with every morning in the last five months, my cock was stone hard and painfully wedged beneath me. I was lying facedown in bed, willing my hips to keep steady. Occasionally, by the time I woke up, I'd have already shot my load, leaving nothing but a damp patch on my stomach, her name on my lips, my body still writhing.

This was _un-fucking-acceptable_.

I wasn't a fourteen-year-old boy anymore, dammit. I was twenty-four, and had been with more women then I could in good conscious remember.

Women like Bella...Bella, who trembled in my arms when she was scared...who moaned my name when I kissed her...who got me off with her fucking _foot_...who let me fuck that amazing pussy with my tongue...whose breasts felt like they belonged in the palm of my hands...

"_No_." My voice came out as a desperate snarl because how long could I keep going like this before I went fucking insane?

But it was too late; at the thoughts of her, of all the amazing new sensations I had experienced with her in the past weeks, I was already rubbing myself against my bed, hard enough that the friction had me gritting my teeth.

_More_.

I used palms flat under my pillow to push my hips up, before pounding back down into the mattress. I was tucked into my boxers, and even though the angle I hit the bed at hurt, the pleasure outweighed the pain. I did it again, remembering the sound she made when her swollen pussy clenched on my fingers. And again, remembering how good it felt, tasted, when her aching clit was in my mouth.

_More_.

I got up on all fours, frantically bracing myself on one arm so that I could rub my erection through my boxers with the other. I felt like an animal, hunched over and roughly grabbing at myself to try and appease my attraction to her. It wasn't enough; it was never enough.

_More_.

I turned quickly so I was lying flat on my back, lifting my hips up and kicking off my boxers. My cock sprung painfully free, clear liquid oozing over the head because it really didn't take much these days.

I clenched my eyes shut and let my head fall back against my pillow, so I could imagine it was her soft little hand that reached down and positioned my cock so it was pointing towards my stomach.

I ran my fingers from my balls, along the underside of my shaft, until my palm was flat against the fat head. I was so incredibly sensitive that my dick twitched at the contact and I groaned my supplication to her.

"Oh God, _Bella_."

I spread the pre-cum that had leaked out over my head, and spit into my palm to quickly lather up the rest of my cock. The wet sounds reminded my of my fingers moving in and out of her, and I started to slowly jerk up and down, twisting my wrist when I reached the head.

"Fuck, Bella, please!"

I remembered how tight her pretty little pussy had been on just my fingers, and I imagined squeezing my cock into her tight wet hole, and I imagined her milking my cock and her juices fucking drenching me. My hips lifted off the bed, bucking into my fist.

"Bella, Angel!"

I reached down and started rubbing my balls with my free hand, while tightening my fist on my cock and imagining I was moving in and out of her sweet mouth. My hips lifted through the tight hole my hand was making, seeing her looking up at me with those big innocent eyes while her mouth slurped on me. I remembered her telling me at dinner how she wanted my thick cock to be in her mouth, and in my head I _was_ fucking her mouth with my big cock, and she was moaning her enjoyment around my shaft.

"Bella, you feel so fucking good." I panted, like the fucking animal I was.

I started moving my hand again, speeding up and stroking myself longer and harder.

Then I thought about the one thing I knew would get me off for the rest of my life: her clit above my lips, her pussy spread open and wet above me, and her telling me what I'd been dying to hear from the moment I met her: "_You are. You're controlling me_."

My cock twitched in my hand, cum leaving my tip in several long spurts, splashing onto my bare abs, as I panted her name over and over.

"Bella, Bella, Bella..."

Like a fucking prayer.

Like the sonnet of a man desperately in love.

* * *

I wasn't shocked when I found Bella's truck missing from her garage, though I couldn't help the sense of despair that settled around me when I saw tangible proof that she didn't want to ride with me. After Jessica had told me yesterday that Bella had left early _and _that I needed a date tonight, I knew something was wrong. Not that she had ever officially said she'd be my date, but that was still a message being sent to me.

I had tried calling her about fifty times last night, and it was at around call fifty-one that my lust addled brain registered the fact that she was avoiding me on purpose.

I spent the rest of the night pacing my huge-ass penthouse, analyzing everything I'd done with her and berating myself for all the mistakes I probably made.

I spent a week being an asshole towards her because I was lacking self-control and like a fucking cad, I took it out on her.

I rubbed my cock against her like a fucking horny jackass.

I kissed her too roughly the first time.

I kept trying to resist her, but that only led me to kiss her more savagely every time I got her into the elevator. She never kissed me first, except that one time before dinner. She probably hadn't wanted to.

I let her give me the most amazing orgasm of my life during a dinner I hadn't given her a choice about attending.

I fingered and licked her in the front fucking seat of my Volvo.

I almost tore into her like a beast in the same ridiculous location, and I was pretty certain, from all the details I'd fished from my brothers, and from my obsessive observations of her, that she was a virgin.

I mauled her in the hallway outside her apartment, groping at her breasts like some adolescent boy.

Needless to say, I was incredibly anxious to get to work and see her, more so then I usually was. Which was quite a feat, considering I'd lived for seeing her get out of her truck every morning for months. She must have thought I was insane with the way my face lit up at the sight of her. I couldn't even process the idea of her turning away from me know; it would be like being handed a little slice of heaven for a short while, and then having it ripped away.

If she wanted to slow down the physical side of our relationship, I would happily give her the time she needed. _What relationship_? A nasty voice in my head questioned. _The only time you've taken her on a date, it was to a dinner you forced on her_.

No. I couldn't think like that. She had to feel for me, she just had to. _Everything_ I had was focused on her, and I needed her to feel _something_, fucking anything.

It wasn't long ago that I was actively doing everything in my power to resist her. The second I had seen Bella I knew that I wanted her. It had been on her first day at CIC, and she was standing with her back to me, talking to Angela. Already I had felt a tugging in my groin, having only seen her weep-worthy ass and that wonderful shiny hair. I had been planning how to get her on all fours in my bed before I even saw her face.

Then when she turned, my eyes had raked up from her heels, and I knew someone in Heaven had made her with me in mind. I could imagine those glorious legs wrapped tight around my neck while she begged for me to tongue-fuck her. I could imagine how her pussy would look spread open and weeping for me, and how I'd pound into her so hard she'd be ruined for all other men. I could imagine jerking my thick cock between those glorious tits, marking her with my cum. Then her mouth, all the fantastic things I could do with those plump lips. How good they'd look glistening as they stretched over my shaft.

By the time my eyes met hers, I was hard as hell and planning on taking her into my office and just seducing the fuck out of her. The girl I had been casually seeing at the time was completely forgotten, and I was already cataloguing all the different locations in the building we could fuck in. What I saw in her eyes ruined all those plans for me.

Innocence.

She had the eyes of an _Angel_.

She was a fucking Angel.

I could see it in the little blush that adorned her cheeks, as she looked at me, in the way her small hand trembled in mine when I shook it. Isabella Swan was not the kind of woman who let a man she'd just met fuck her on his desk, and worse then that; I was going to be her boss. There was no way, in good consciousness, I could take advantage of her like that, even if I wanted her so badly it was an ache.

So I tried to resist her. It would have been easier if I had treated her like an ass from that first day, but I was unable to. Even the professional distance I kept her at killed me; calling her Miss. Swan when every night I choked out her name when I came.

I watched her in those first few months so much more then was healthy, so I knew her routine back-to-front. I knew if I crossed this corridor at this time on this day I could see the polite smile she would always give me when I walked passed.

That polite fucking smile that felt like a knife to the gut as I watched her become friends with my brothers. I was already pulling away from the two of them under the burden of Carlisle's secret, but having her spend time with Jasper and Emmett meant I could barely talk to them without clenching my teeth. I tortured myself with the idea that one of them could ask her out, that one of my own _brothers_ could have that which I worked so hard at resisting.

It was the agony of not knowing that finally made me bring her up during a meeting the three of us were having. Bella had just brought in coffee, (a task I felt was below her, though I knew better then to make a fuss) and Emmett and Jasper had greeted her with their little in-jokes and knowing smiles. Before I could help myself, I was asking them if Miss. Swan was dating either of them.

My older brothers had smirked so hard at me I wanted to snap them in half, because they knew me well enough to sense my keen interest in their answers.

"Ooh, Eddie, do you have a crush on our little Bellie? Eddie and Bellie, sitting in a tree..." Emmett had teased me for over ten minutes before I admitted I might, possibly, have a small amount of interest in Isabella Swan.

The kind of interest where I hadn't been able to touch another woman because all I wanted was her.

The kind of interest where I spontaneously orgasm in my sleep because I'm imaging her hair fanned out on my pillow.

The kind of interest where I was so in love with her I had memorized every inch of her face.

_Nothing major_.

Jasper had seen right through me, and had insisted that I just ask Bella out. My incredulous reply was spawned from months of torment, and I found myself snarling at my shocked sibling.

"Are you kidding me with that, Jazz? She's twenty." I could see him about to point out I was only four years older, and quickly amended. "She's barely been out into the world, I've already boned half of New York! _Then_ I'm her boss, how can I ask her out and expect her to say yes out of anything but obligation? It'd be like leading a trusting little lamb to the slaughterhouse. Plus, my life is a fucking mess."

I was thinking about Angela, with her steadily widening belly and her sad, forgiving smiles. Neither of my brothers knew about that, of course, so they simply laughed at what they deemed an incredible overreaction and started teasing me about my "little lamb" every time we were together.

Everything was so much better and _so _much worse when Angela went on her maternity leave. Suddenly Bella was in my life from the moment I came to work to the moment I left, with nothing but a door separating us. I knew I shouldn't have agreed to have her become my First Assistant, but my mouth had formed a "yes" before I could put any thought into it.

As the days went by she was slowly chipping away what was left of my self-control, while, in my pathetic state, I made the most mundane things, like her sucking on the end of her pen, into erotic memories that plagued me at night.

I wondered if I would have been able to resist; if I hadn't come in to work two weeks ago to find her dressed in some sort of naughty school girl outfit like the Bella in my dreams, bent over her desk and reminding me of a fucking porno I'd has as a kid.

Then she had to be reading a book at lunch that I had borrowed several fantasies from, juxtaposing them with images of her. If my brothers hadn't of interrupted me, I would have pulled her into my lap and ravished her in a restaurant full of my fucking employees.

But the worst part of it was, I think I saw lust in her eyes, especially when I grabbed her wrist to pull her on top of me (though I didn't get that far, of course). The idea of Bella lusting after me had been more then I could bear, and I had to jerk off in a bathroom stall before I could even attempt to walk past her to my office.

The rest of the week, I could have sworn she was trying to torture me intentionally, showing up at work everyday looking like the epitome of all that is sex. I knew I was treating her callously, that I was hurting her, but it was for her own good. My resistance was officially gone; if I wasn't short with her and if I didn't avoid her I would have fallen to my knees and fucking begged her to let me pleasure her.

Then the elevator breaking down had brought me the most amazing, wonderful experience of my entire life; my darling, sweet Bella in my arms, seeking my protection, sheltering herself against my chest. My Bella letting me press my lips to her forehead, letting me bury my face in her strawberry hair.

I knew then that my fight was over.

Her siren call had won, I couldn't resist her anymore.

I would do everything I could to make her mine.

* * *

It was in this mind frame that I stepped off the elevator at work on Friday morning (the same elevator that could now make me hard just _thinking_ about Bella telling me she wanted to be in control).

The night of anxious pacing had done nothing to ease my calm, and when I saw Bella and Jessica, who had been talking at Bella's desk, turned to look at me, my worst fears were confirmed.

Jessica, though I barely spared her a glance, was staring between Bella and me with a look that could only be described as "solidarity, sister."

Bella's eyes were completely blank, devoid of any kindness, or anger, or lust. It was like she felt _nothing_ when she looked at me. It was like someone had heard my silent plea that she feel something, anything for me, and had made sure I woke up this morning to my worst possible nightmare.

My heartbeat was a tattoo against my ribcage, and I could feel my Adam's apple visibly bobbing as I swallowed down my nervousness. If I was going to fix this – whatever _this _was – then I would need to be calm and in control. _You are_._ You're controlling me_.

"I need to speak to you in my office, please, love."

Something passed across Bella's face, and Jessica let out a small squeak of surprise. I tried to analyze what was wrong with what I had said, but all I had asked was for Bella to speak with me in my office. What was surprising about that?

Bella nodded to Jessica, who left with another glare in my direction. She was instantly forgotten when Bella got up from behind her desk and walked towards me.

I felt my cock twitching into life only an hour after I'd relieved myself in bed. She was wearing a _leather_ skirt, and sky-high heels that I instantly imagined wrapped around my bare thighs, and a white shirt that was so tight I could easily make out the shape of her _braless _breasts underneath.

"You look amazing..." I couldn't help but groan, momentarily making me forget something was wrong between us. My hands flexed at my sides, and it was all I could do to keep myself from grabbing her. Why,_ oh_, why did she have to look like something out of one of my childhood porn videos?

"I know." Bella replied, grinning at me in such a feral and vicious way that I imagined her nails scrapping down my back as I banged her against the wall. I also noticed her grin did nothing to touch the muted light in her eyes.

She walked into my office, leaving me staring after her swinging hips before I could gain control of my legs and follow her.

When I turned to look at her after closing the door behind myself, another dry groan escaped my throat. Bella was sitting right on the edge of my desk; leaning back on her hands, with her legs wide open.

She wasn't wearing any underwear and the same vicious expression was on her face.

In defense of my next actions, all the blood had rushed between my legs, thus cutting off any control my brain had over my limbs. Or, simply put: I was thinking with my dick.

I rushed her, my body colliding into hers as I pushed myself between her open legs, wanting that beautiful pussy rubbing against me. My hands grabbed her from underneath her thighs, lifting her a little so I could have warmth directly against where my cock was battling against my zipper.

I tried to bring my lips to hers as I began pumping against her heat, but her head twisted viciously to the side to avoid me. Her actions brought me some much-needed cerebral function.

I reluctantly dropped one of her smooth thighs, keeping the other open for me, and cupped her cheek. She didn't fight me as I turned her face to me, and I could see the arousal in her eyes. _My_ fucking Angel.

"What's wrong?" _Tell me, and I'll walk across broken glass to fix it._

"I don't want you anymore." A cruel smile stretched her perfect lips; or as close an approximation to a cruel smile someone as sweet as Bella could get. I could feel the heat radiating between her legs like I was pressed against a furnace, and I knew she was either already wet, or well on her way.

"You're lying to me." I pointed out immediately, pressing into her to prove it. We both shuddered as I moved. "Why are you lying to me? What's changed?"

"I don't want you anymore."

Bella abruptly fell to her elbows, lifting herself from the hips so she could move her bare pussy against the coarse material of my pants. I saw her head fall back so her beautiful neck was exposed to me, and she whimpered when my hips matched her movements. There was pre-cum leaking out of me already, making it increasingly difficult to think about her contradictory behavior and words.

"You do, you do want me. Why are you doing this?" _I won't give up on you now_.

Bella laughed, _laughed_ at me, and pushed herself back on the desk so our bodies were no longer touching. She looked at me with a triumphant sneer.

"Did I stutter?" She asked coldly. "I. Don't. Want. You. Anymore. So I hope you enjoyed that, because you'll _never _have me."

Fuck that.

She was _my _Angel.

Mine.

I let every possessive, predatory, loving, passionate feeling I had for her boil to the surface as I listened to her rejecting me. She had told me I was in control. She was finally mine; mine like I had been hers from the moment I laid eyes on her. I wouldn't give her up, not now, not fucking ever.

Not after I listened to her gasp as I kissed her. Not after I listened to her sigh when I thrust my fingers into her. Not after I listened to her whimper when I moved my tongue inside her. Every little sound she made, and they all translated to the same thing; "I'm yours", "I'm yours", "I'm yours".

I felt my eyes narrow, bringing my prey into sharper focus. Bella smile had changed from triumphant to challenging, mocking me. Her hips were rubbing together because, dammit, I turned her on.

My hand snapped back to her hips, and I used superior strength and psychotic possessiveness to drag her back, so she was straddling me again. She simply sneered wider at my actions.

I wanted to cup her face, but I was scared I would hurt her when I was shaking from rage and lust.

"I'm not going to play games with you." I told her, squeezing those amazing thighs to emphasize every word. "Feel free to take the rest of the day off, and I'll be there to pick you up at 8 tonight for the charity ball."

Given her current mood, I expected her to slap me. Instead, she wriggled off the table, so her body was sliding down mine as she stood. I felt my eyes roll into the back of my head a little at all those barely covered curves moving against me, and at the feeling of her cool breath on my ear as she whispered.

"See you tonight, Edward....though by the time I'm through with your sorry ass, you're going to wish you never invited me."

**

* * *

Yeah, Bella is going to torture the shit out of this boy at the ball.**

**Edward jerking off is hot, right? Is it weird that I think that?**

**Also, I gave you a pretty big clue as to why Eddie is NOT the jerk you currently think he is, and I hope you guys found it!**

**Review and tell me if you think I should repeat EPOV!**

**150 reviews=update.**


	16. Ice Queen

**Okay, in response to Bella's behavior. I don't know how many of you have ever felt like a woman scorned, but you are NOT thinking rationally at those times. Trust me, I've see some ladies do some crazy ass shit to get back at their men. **

**You don't want your pride to take another hit by having them explain, "yes honey, I was doing someone else", so often they just throw clothing out of windows, have sex with ex-boyfriends and change the locks. All of which I've seen people do. It may be OOC, but Bella is stubborn, and in my story, doesn't have the self-esteem of a flea, so she isn't going to go running to her boss and put her heart on the line.**

**Instead, she's going to be a freaking ice-cold bitch and get her revenge, which is exactly what I would do, and exactly what every other girl I know would do.**

**Don't worry; Edward's not going to let her get away with it for long.**

**Phew. Glad to have that off my chest.**

**150 reviews=update.**

**

* * *

BPOV.**

By 7:50 Friday evening, I was standing in my kitchen (under strict orders to sit in my dress as little as possible) and knocking back a stiff shot of tequila with the girls.

Alice, Rose and I made simultaneous "yuck" faces as the shots went down, none of us being particularly big drinkers.

"Ewww. I've got nail polish that would taste better." Alice coughed; sticking her tongue out as if airing it would get the taste away quicker.

"You guys didn't need to have one. I just needed a little Dutch courage before I faced _Edward_." I hadn't said Edward's name out loud since I came home yesterday and told them everything.

Both of them had been incredibly shocked, and like me they had been angry that Carlisle seemed to care more about Edward's reputation being ruined then the fact that I was a human being with real feelings and emotions. My involvement didn't seem to matter to him at all.

From the way I had described Edward, as a man who always treated everyone fairly, and as someone who was kind and thoughtful, as someone who looked at me as if I was the only person on Earth when we touched, they had practically had an aneurism at the idea of him using me to get his jollies.

Alice had tentatively suggested I talk to him about it, an idea that both Rose and me shot down immediately. I wouldn't give the bastard the satisfaction of knowing I cared. It didn't matter how much I _thought_ I loved the guy, or how much I _knew _I wanted him, my pride dictated that I stand my fucking ground.

"Bella..." Alice started while she and Rose shot each other worried looks as I spat out Edward's name like a curse.

Alice thought I should have been crying and eating chocolate.

Rose thought I should be throwing expensive ornaments and shouting at inanimate objects.

Both of them had been close to that when we talked about Jasper and Emmett. We didn't know if they knew about Angela, though I had been quick to defend them. The boys had been great friends to me for months, and I couldn't see them doing this to me on purpose. Besides, from what asshole and assholes father had been saying, it sounded like it was a huge secret.

I hadn't cried or screamed. I had gone straight from numbness to an apoplectic state of fury. I wanted revenge. I wanted Edward to suffer for being a horny jackass. It was bad enough doing this to me, but I actually felt for Angela and the baby. Imagine having a child to a man who won't acknowledge you publicly, and who is, worse, willing to go on a very public date with your replacement.

"I didn't think it was a good idea to dress you up for work today, and I don't think it's a good idea for you to do anything to Edward tonight." Alice admitted to me, looking to Rose for support.

Rose looked stoically back at her, not giving her any encouragement. Rose had had her heart broken before, and now only Alice was lucky enough to have not experienced that.

"Why the hell not, Al? You were all for it this morning."

Alice hesitated, tucking her hands under her bum and swinging her kitchen stool around. She looked like such a little kid that I almost apologized for being so short with her.

"It's not that I don't think Edward deserves it. From what you've said, he does. Though I _still _wish you guys would listen to me about just talking to him, he did call you like _50 _times last night. It's just that I know how attracted you are to him, and I know he's aware that you're attracted to him, and I don't want you to become emotionally involved. "

That was exactly why I needed the tequila. When I had made Alice do me up like another one of Edward's porn hotties, I had been planning on going to work, telling him I totally didn't want his ass, and then teasing him until he was _beyond_ blue balls.

He had chipped away at my resolve from the second he stepped off the elevator. Edward had looked at me with those piercing green eyes, and they were so filled with lust, and nervousness, and determination, and remorse and concern that I had momentarily forgotten why I hated him. Calling me "love" didn't help, either.

When I stood up and he got a look at my outfit, the lust in his eyes had eclipsed everything else, and his whole body seemed to automatically lean towards me, like I had some freaky ass force field or something. Seeing his concern disappear had brought back my determination, and I went straight into his office and set myself up so he'd get the most private peepshow in New York.

I expected him to come in and look at me with yearning, maybe glare at me for being a cock-tease. I _didn't_ expect him to fly across the room and secure my body against his, moving against me like a brute. I didn't expect to enjoy his lust for me so much that I moved with him. Every time I told him "I don't want you anymore" I tried to be cruel and cold, but I couldn't stop my hips. I wanted him too much, for too long.

I even agreed to this stupid ball, though before that I had every intention of not going. I tried to play it off as another opportunity to give him hell, and I _would_ be giving him hell, but in reality I heard him order me to come with him in that heated, controlling voice, and I was helpless but to agree.

So, for the first time ever, I told a serious lie to my very concerned best friends.

"I'm not emotionally involved." I fibbed, fighting the urge to cross my fingers behind my back. "I just want him to suffer for using me like he did. An eye-for-an-eye and all that crap. It's the human condition to want revenge. I'm going to stay the course, Al."

"Amen, Sister Suffragette." Rosalie agreed, pumping a fist into the air. It was times like this I considered her perfect for Emmett.

Alice bit her lip, clearly disagreeing with our vindictiveness. But, again, she'd never fallen in love, had her heart stomped on, and been left with Carrie-at-the-Prom syndrome.

Edward knocking on my door made us all jump, but Alice took her time readjusting my dress and hair for me before anyone moved to open it. I was wearing a navy blue dress, which had quite a high collared front, but was completely backless. There was a slit going up to mid-thigh, and my hair was up in an elegant twist that showed off my neck.

Alice opened the door for Edward, which was lucky, because seeing Edward dressed in a perfect, traditional black suit and bowtie made me feel like my panties may spontaneously combust, ensuring I needed a second to collect myself. He had even tried to comb his hair into submission, though it was already beginning to hedge back to disarray.

"Hello, Edward." Alice said to him softly, and I could picture the confused, anxious look she was giving him just from the tone of her voice.

Eager to get out of there, I pushed past both of them and into the corridor, not waiting for Edward as I went straight to the elevator. I heard him say a hasty "hello, goodbye" to Alice, and then I could feel the heat of his gaze running up and down the length of my back.

_Shit yeah, the back cleavage is getting to him_.

I heard him clear his throat. "You look-"

I heaved a very dramatic sigh as I walked into the elevator, turning to look at him and giving him a bored expression. This was difficult when all I wanted was to tear all his clothes off, but leave the bowtie on.

Stupid traitorous hormones.

"Let me guess? I look 100 kinds of doable? Walking temptation? Sex on legs? Fuckable? An easy lay?" I suggested in a tone that matched my expression.

Edward gave me a fierce look, and then his hand shot out so it was on my neck. He wasn't applying any pressure whatsoever; in fact he was rubbing little circles with his thumb. But it was clearly a show of power, especially because my neck felt so thin and breakable under the weight of his large hand.

"I fully accept that you feel I deserve your scorn. But you will not speak about yourself in the same disrespectful manner. Am I clear?" He asked me in a warning tone.

I felt the beginnings of shame creeping in, and I hated that he had made me feel that way. Edward had graduated early, gone through University early, and had begun his career early. I was feeling every inch of difference in our maturity levels as he held onto my neck and waited on my answer.

"Crystal." I told him softly, pushing aside my guilt. Edward's fingers slid reluctantly off my skin, and the self-loathing increased when I missed their presence.

We stayed in a tense silence as we exited, and as Edward helped me into the backseat of the limo that was waiting for us. It was only once he was sitting next to me, his thigh against mine, boxing me into the corner, that he spoke.

"And, for the record, you look beautiful."

We didn't speak all drive, though Edward kept me caged to his side as we walked through the sea of photographers outside the Museum.

One hand was on the small of my back, but when he tried to reach across me to hold my other hand; I gave him the most indignant look I could muster. No way was I holding his hand in front of hundreds photographers and journalists.

When we got inside, it took us over half an hour to make it through the group of guests milling around in the foyer. After all, everyone wanted to talk and network with one of Times Magazines "100 Most Influential People". It was lucky I had come with him, because I knew half of them would be ringing the office in the next few weeks to talk to Edward, and now I could at least match what they wanted to talk about to their calls.

Edward sensed my desire to leave his side about five minutes in, and slid the hand that was on the small of my back around to my hip, holding me closer. This would have been just like the way I had gotten used to him holding me, but the hand was _under_ my dress. I felt myself becoming aroused as his cool fingers rubbed my flesh.

"Get your hand off me." I growled at him, looking superstitiously around to see if anyone had noticed. My answer: _everyone _had noticed.

"Why should I? Because you don't want me anymore? You tell me why that is exactly, and then _maybe_ I'll move. " Edward had whispered back to me, challenging me, leaning down to kiss my cheek just as a camera flashed.

"Go to hell, you smarmy prick."

Edward laughed at my snarled response. "I guess that's my answer. So obviously that means you don't mind my hand on you, which thus means you won't mind when I let everyone know your mine. Now smile pretty, my darling, these are important people coming to say hello."

Then for the rest of the night, whenever someone asked whom the pretty little thing next to him was, the jerk would introduce me as "his Bella".

Halfway through dessert, as everyone was getting up to mingle or join the masses on the dance floor, Edward trailed his hand from the small of my back up to my shoulder to get my attention. I'd spent the entire dinner talking to the couple seated next to me, ignoring him because I was too mad, too emotional, to get to the whole teasing him (and proving myself right about him) part of the night.

Just like Alice had feared.

Edward's hand had settled onto my back and stayed there all dinner, and I knew he did it so he could remind me that the only reason I was allowed to ignore him was because he _let _me.

But when he got my attention during dessert, there was nothing confident about him.

Edward waited until I was facing him and asked, "Would you care to accompany me for a dance?" He blurted the next part as if he was trying to sell the idea, "Just one."

His shoulders were hunched and he was frowning at his plate, like he could read my mind. Seeing him already disappointed, already rejected, made me want to pull him from his seat and hug the fucker. I mean, what the hell was up with me? How dare he make me feel like that? Why couldn't he just act domineeringly and possessively all the time? Sure, that made me want to claw at his belt buckle, but at least then I didn't feel all this..._guilt_.

"There isn't even a _little _part of me that would care to accompany you for a dance." I lied, because there wasn't a little part of me. There was a huge-motherfucking-size-of-Texas part of me that wanted to go into his arms and forget everything that had happened.

The hurt that drowned Edward's expression changed very quickly to anger, and he squeezed down on my shoulder as lowered his head towards mine.

"Tell me what happened to turn you into this...ice queen...this... _bitter harpy_," Edward snarled. "Tell me please, and I'll fix it Bella."

My mind blanked in indignation. I didn't hear anything after "bitter harpy"; though I could see those pretty lips were still forming words. I was very glad the couple next to me, uncomfortable with the intense bubble Edward and I were in, had gotten up to dance. There was only two other people still at our table, and they were so wrapped up in each other they barely noticed us.

Good. Because that meant the yelp of surprise Edward let out when I brought my hand between his legs went completely unnoticed.

"I may be an ice queen, but that that doesn't mean I can't get you _hot_."

**

* * *

EPOV.**

Oh shit. Oh shit. Oh _shit_.

Why couldn't I have just been nice? I had planned it all out before I got to her front door. I was going to treat her like the Princess she is, showering her in all my love and affection until she suddenly broke down in my arms and told me "Oh Edward, I love you so much, I'll never want anyone but you, make love to me you ruggedly handsome man."

While it hadn't been the most realistic of plans, I was still going to be calm, and kind, and talk through whatever resentment she had developed towards me. But her beautiful appearance had put everything but my cock into a stupor, which was always my downfall with this woman. So instead I had acted like a controlling idiot all night.

In what I was coming to learn was typical Bella Swan fashion; she had decided to get the most delicious revenge known to man.

Elvis post-cheeseburgers.

My grandmother.

Emmett streaking at my eighteenth birthday.

National debt.

I tried to think of anything, fucking anything, that would make me go limp, and not a single thought worked. My cock was still straining hard as she worked me over.

All I could feel was her little hand as it rubbed between my legs, all I could think about, anticipate, was how she would curl her fingers on the way back up. I could hear my breathing speeding up, and I was dying to look at her, but I kept my eyes shut tight, trying to drown out the sensations she was creating.

Thankfully most of the table had gotten up to dance, because if someone tried to engage me in conversation, the only thing that would come out of my mouth would be a desperate sob. Sweat was beading on my forehead, my heart was pounding, Bella's scent was filling my nostrils, and my cheeks were flushed.

The impression of her hot breath on my ear made me bite back a moan, and then Bella's smug little voice giggled sadistically, "Well, would you look at that? He comes on command. Good boy."

I tensed my stomach muscles, trying to keep myself from giving in. This was obviously a battle of wills, and though I didn't understand what had started the war, I knew I couldn't be the first to raise a flag of surrender.

"You don't control me unless I let you, remember?" I hissed at her, trying to be determined.

But my determination wavered when she murmured back, "Let's see about that".

Then her hand stopped rubbing me, instead going for the kill. Bella curled her fingers all the way around me, easily finding purchase through the straining and thin material of my pants, and then she_ really_ started jerking me, hard and rough and letting her nails scrape my shaft just right.

I started bucking up, moving my cock faster through her fisted hand, hoping like hell it was as discreet as possible. _What was with this girl and getting me off in public?_

And, more importantly, what was with me getting a sick thrill out of it?

"Fuck it." I panted under my breath, giving in. I opened my eyes to stare into her victorious face.

I could see her plan in her eyes. To bring me to the edge and leave me hanging, desperate for release. I knew without a doubt that she would walk away then, perhaps even for good, if she found the punishment befitting whatever crime she believed me to have committed.

"See that?" She asked me sweetly, turning in her seat so that the hand that wasn't on my cock could stimulate my thigh. "This right here? You letting me touch you here, now? It's because you're a selfish," her fingers ran over my tip, no doubt feeling the dampness that had gathered there, "lying, womanizing, immoral prick, who will _never _have me."

I understood the battle now, even as I shuddered in desire. The closer I got to climax, the closer she got to winning, to proving whatever misdeed I had committed in her head as correct.

_If that happened_,_ I would lose her for good._

Though it was the hardest thing I had ever done in my life, I grabbed her wrists roughly, pushing her hands away from me. My cock was so thick and full and painful that I had to bite the inside of my cheek to keep from screaming in frustration.

I un-tucked my shirt carefully, hissing when I inadvertently touched myself, so that when I stood up, it would cover the evidence of my desire.

Bella stared at me, having already passed judgment on me, in shock that I was acting differently to her character profile. Her hands were rubbing her wrists where I had grabbed them, and I promised her silently that I would shower them in kisses and apologize profusely when we were alone.

I could – I _would_ – brake down whatever animosity she was feeling. She wouldn't take her anger out on me through a fucking hand job unless she was attracted to me. And if attraction was what I had to work with, then I knew where we'd have to go for the conversation I wanted to take place.

I needed a home ground advantage.

I stood up, wincing in pain, and held out my hand to her. She stared at me with hatred and, more importantly, _desire_, making no effort to move.

"Get up. We're going to my place."

**

* * *

Mmm...Edward's going to seduce the truth out of her.**

**Because I know I'll get questions about this:**

**Bella has judged Edward as a womanizing prick. Her plan was to, as Edward figured out, drive him crazy. Edward knew if he let her win, on her terms, it would only confirm her opinion about him. He figures he'd take her to his place, and he'd use this lust she obviously can't hide for him to figure out what's wrong between them.**

**Won't that be a fantastic conversation?**

**I was insanely high on flu medication when I wrote this, so please review your questions if it doesn't make sense.**

**150 reviews=update.**


	17. Quick Fix

**NO!**

**I do not have the Swine Flu!**

**Geesh, scare the crap out of me, people!**

**And, much to my detriment, I found the button on how to reply to reviews (technology and me have never been comrades), and actually had to physically stop myself after a couple of minutes. I figured you guys would want another chapter more!**

**150 reviews=update.**

**

* * *

BPOV.**

"_Get up. We're going to my place."_

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

Why did Alice always have to be right?

I should have put itching powder in his dry cleaning.

I should have made an anonymous tip off to the gossip columns that he had crabs.

I should have spread a rumor that he had a really small dick (though that would have felt sacrilegious).

Instead, like a lovelorn fool, I decided to punish him in a..._sexual_ manner. Really, my logical brain had decided: _okay, Edward's a womanizer, let's give him a hand job in public, but not let him cum. That'll show him._

I was going to _kill _Rosalie for even suggesting that, and what was with me agreeing to it?

As we made the drive to Edward's apartment in silence, I could feel his determination radiating off him in waves. He stared at me the entire drive, and through the charged elevator ride.

My steadfastness was obviously non-existent, because I didn't make a complaint the entire time. It was almost like I _wanted_ to take Alice's advice and talk it out. All I could think about was Edward asking me to dance earlier, and how dejected he had looked when I told him no. About how even though I expected him to want me to touch him under the table, he had pushed me away, finding it more important to prove me wrong then to get off (even though I had never had any intention of letting him finish). How none of that fit in with the man I presumed he was, ever since I'd found out about Angela.

Edward's penthouse was an eclectic mix between ultra-modern and antique pieces, with expensive, though obscure, art on his walls. Through the floor-to-ceiling windows, I could see a breathtaking view of Central Park. My first thought, shameful as it was, was to imagine Edward and me going at it against said windows.

With a sense of purpose that made me incredibly nervous, Edward led me by the small of my back through his incredible apartment and into his even more amazing library. Once we were in there he closed the door, observing me closely as I looked around.

It was two stories tall, with one of those awesome ladders on wheels to reach the higher shelves. The ones every little girl imagined themselves on after seeing _Beauty and the Beast_.

Most of the shelves were covered with books, but there were a considerable number of records and CD's too. There was a fireplace against one wall, with a comfortable looking brown leather couch facing it. I could see a pile of open books at one end of the couch, and I could just imagine Edward lying down, his hair mussed, flipping through books while he listened to his records.

"I like your collection." It was the most generic thing I could think to say in the face of my confusion and sudden nerves.

"Thank you. We'll have to try and make sure you can spend Sunday mornings lazing around in here." Edward smiled at me, like we were already a couple and this was just something to fit into our schedule.

I whirled around from the shelf of books I was examining to seethe at him, because _really_, was now the time to be a jerk?

"Listen to me, you presumptuous prick. I won't be spending anytime here. Period. So don't think you can convince me."

"I wasn't trying to convince you of anything. It's a forgone conclusion. You will be here, warming my bed, waking up in my arms, for as long as I want you to be. Period." He spoke confidently, crossing his arms across his chest, leaning back against the door. It didn't escape my notice that I was trapped in this room with him blocking the exit.

"Aren't you supposed to be a gentleman? Can't you just respect my feelings?"

Edward's shoulders left the door with a jerk, and his arms reached out to pull me into his chest.

Did he _have _to smell so damn good? Did his chest have to feel so warm and hard as my soft breasts were crushed between us?

"The feelings that are making you tremble in my arms? Are those the ones I should respect?"

Oh God, he knew.

He knew just what he was doing to me. He could be confident about me being here for lazy Sunday mornings because he clearly knew how much I desired him...maybe even how much I _loved_ him.

I was in way over my head with the petty revenge crap. How could I possibly take revenge on a man who made me quiver by just touching me? How could I make him pay for evoking such strong feelings in me, and then turning out to be someone I thought he wasn't?

I couldn't. Edward had won, and he didn't even know we were in the middle of an mêlée. I fought back the onslaught of irrational tears I felt welling, cursing myself for not having cried myself out beforehand, and for having the urge to break down in front of him now.

Time to move on. I'd tried to seduce this man, because, like that annoying girl from _Willy Wonka_, I was all "but daddy, I want an Ommpa Loompa _now_". But I _wasn't_ a child anymore, and it had been stupid to imagine that I could seduce Edward and everything would work out perfectly for us.

He wasn't a cardboard cut out; he was a real person with real issues. I had tried to push him into the role I wanted and was now dealing with the repercussions. Particularly, a broken heart.

"Forget it, Edward. I won't be m-mean to you anymore." I heard the tremor in my voice and took a deep breath, "Let's just go back to how we were a month ago. I'll ignore you. You ignore me."

My face, which I had been trying to bury into his chest, was suddenly caught between his hands, as he brought it up to his. I knew my bottom lip was trembling and my eyes were bright.

"You may as well ask the moon to stop rising, see if it will obey you. You'll have just as much luck." He teased, but the intensity of his eyes was frightening, "I won't pretend this, _us_, hasn't happened. Just tell me what went wrong and I'll fix it."

_Not good_.

I wasn't expecting him to play the game this way. I expected dominant, arrogant Edward, not sweet (though, I knew, blatantly insincere) Edward.

He led me to the stuffy couch that was facing the unlit fireplace. As if he did it everyday, Edward sat down with me in his lap, ignoring the way my body stiffened.

"Don't bother with the act, Edward. I know you were only with me to get laid." Could he hear the bitterness in my voice? I had thought at first that that was all _I_ wanted, too.

I scooted forward on his lap so I would have more room to see his face, and I saw remorse mixed with anger there as he stared back at me.

"Bella," he started in a pained voice, "I've asked you not to speak about yourself in such an impertinent manner. If I've made you feel like any less of a...lady, then I truly apologize. Please don't be mad at me."

Like a fucking switch had been flicked, I was crying. I turned abruptly in his lap so he wouldn't see my childish tears, wriggling so my back was against his chest. He winced when I shifted over his still prominent erection, and now I was being a tease without even meaning to.

However, it seemed he thought I was trying to get up (like me legs could hold me right now), and his arms wrapped around me in what felt like a desperate embrace.

"Look, Edward," I told him, glad that the crying couldn't be heard in my voice. "I know I haven't come off this way, but I'm not the most experienced girl." I hated having to admit this, but it was time to move past all this bullshit. I'd lay blame where he deserved it, not where he didn't.

Yep. That was _definitely _a desperate embrace. His arms tightened on me, locking around my chest and waist to keep me from getting up.

"I know that," he choked into the top of my head. "I'm sorry I made you feel like...any less of the Angel you are. I just find myself very attracted to you, and I tend not to think about anything besides that when we're alone." He made another choking sound as his grip flexed around me. "_God_, even now, having you in _my_ apartment, in _my _arms, you don't know how hard it is for me to stop myself. When I brought you here I'd planned.......I understand how my rash, crass behavior made you mad."

Actually, I knew just how _hard_ it was for him to stop himself. But I wasn't in the mood to make any jokes right now, though I did squirm a bit in his lap.

"You think I've been a bitch because you're _attracted _to me?" I asked incredulously. How skewered was his view? Before Angela, things between Edward and I had been _perfect_.

Edward hesitated answering, because clearly he knew whatever he was going to say next, I wasn't going to like.

"Yes, I think that. I promise I'll be more careful, more patient from now on." A pause, where he squeezed me backwards so he could press his face into my neck. "But you told me I was in control, and I won't let you walk away, Bella."

_Was he kidding me with that_?

I'd have loved if my reaction had been to turn around and head butt the fucker, Vinnie Jones style. Instead the silent tears I had been crying turned into loud, mortifying sobs.

"Please don't cry." He tried to turn me in his arms, but because I knew I couldn't shout what I wanted to at him if we were face-to-face, I didn't let him.

"It has NOTHING to do with how things progressed between us!" I sobbed loudly at the fireplace. "I was just trying to point out that though I'm not experienced, I was the instigator for half of what we did! The reason _I hate you_," he flinched so hard then that I was practically knocked out of his lap, "is because you're a lying philandering pig! I know about Angela, Jessica heard you and your dad talking, you bastard! H-how could you do t-that? That poor b-baby." My anger had completely ebbed by the time I finished, leaving nothing but a foolish, sobbing little girl.

Edward didn't say anything for so long that I twisted so I sideways in his lap, against the armrest. It was difficult, because his arms were locked in place, and I could tell, once I saw the look on his face, why that was. His mouth was hanging open, his eyes wide. It was a mixture between dawning understanding and abject horror.

He obviously wasn't going to say anything, so I heaved a great huff of annoyance through my tears, and announced dramatically, "I'm leaving! I'll see you at work on Monday, Mr. Cullen!"

I tried to get up, but my movement spurred Edward out of his comatose state, and his quickly pulled me back, tighter then before.

"Wait, please, I can explain everything. Don't go." His face was feverish, just inches away from mine. I had no idea how he thought he could just explain away a woman and her child, but I let out a maniacal laughed anyway.

"Go ahead," I hissed back at him, "explain it to me."

I leaned back as far as his arms would allow, wanting to put some distance between out faces. Edward blanched at me, but didn't answer. For what felt like ten minutes we were just sitting there, staring at each other like we were on_ Days of Our Lives_ or something. Our chests were heaving (me because I was still crying, he because he looked like he was hyperventilating) and when his eyes ghosted down from mine to admire my rising and falling breasts, I knew I had to speak. _He really wasn't kidding about the attraction thing, was he?_

"I'm waiting," I reminded him harshly.

His eyes snapped back up to mine, a pleading note in their green depths, as he replied, "I just need you to be patient with me, and I promise I'll explain everything to you."

Right. Well that was about what I expected from him, anyway. What could he explain to me later that I couldn't hear now? The hope that had been building, against my will, was crushed, like a boat crashing against the rocks. I let out another loud sob against my will. What was with me and the crying right now? I felt like I was watching _the Notebook_.

"No, no, NO, don't look at me like that!" Edward begged, seeing my hopeless disbelief. I should have been amazed at _The _Edward Cullen begging me, unknown, unimportant Bella Swan, but I couldn't work up the emotion. "Please, I'm not lying. I _will_ fix this. I just need some time."

"Right. Sure. Fine. I'd like to go ho-home now. I'm tired." And I was.

Abruptly and completely tired of all of this.

Normal people's lives surely didn't have this much drama. I sat there sobbing on his lap while he seemed to consider my words. His hand was rubbing my back.

"Please. I'm really tired." I cried after another pointless minute. Pointless, just like the last few, perfect weeks with him had been. Because Edward's refusal to defend himself in the here-and-now was practically an admission of guilt.

Edward squared his shoulders, the tense frown on his face easing somewhat as he came to a decision.

"Okay." He agreed finally, in a soft, comforting voice, "Let's get you to bed, then."

I tried to work up some good ol' shock and indignation as Edward picked me up, so I was in a front-ways piggyback. I guess a piggy front? Whatever it was called, I obediently wrapped my arms around his neck and my legs around his waist and cried into his shoulder.

He carried me out of the library, hand soothing the skin of my hips as he said "shh, Angel" to my continued crying. Which increased the waterworks, just like when he'd done it in the elevator.

As we passed the large dinning room, and entered into the open plan kitchen and lounge room, I waited for him to turn into the entrance hall and take me through the front door.

Instead, he walked confidently past the foyer, and down another corridor.

"Where goin?" I slurred into his shoulder, hoping my salty tears were running his jacket.

"Bed, Bella." He must have felt me tense up, because he clarified, "To sleep, I'm going to put you to sleep."

"I hate you." It was all I could think to say. Any argument I could have made about him being pretentious enough to keep me in his apartment was lost in my current mood.

"Yes." Edward agreed, deftly opening a door to what I prayed was a spare bedroom. He took me to the large bed, and pulled back the covers, again, with me still in his arms. _Probably an expert at preparing a bed while a woman's wrapped around him_, I thought nastily.

"It's entirely your fault that I'm like this right now."

"Yes." He agreed again, managing to slip off my heels while I was still attached to him.

"I wish I'd never laid eyes on you." _Because then I wouldn't be in love with you right now..._

"I know, love. Could you please unlock your arms and legs for me?"

That was the worst part. That I was clinging so hard to him that my fingers hurt as I unlocked them. Edward laid me down in the bed, his face inches from mine in the dark room.

Slowly, perhaps deliberately, he removed my legs from around his waist. I heard his breathing hitch as his bare hands lingered on the outside of my thighs.

It seemed to take a great amount of effort for him to pull away, and I could still hear his heavy breathing as he brought the covers up.

"Sleep, Bella. We've got a busy day tomorrow." He brushed a kiss over my forehead. I didn't have the energy to do anything but snort in anger.

"I'm not going anywhere with you. I want to go home." I said in my croaky, fucking unattractive post-tears voice. It didn't sound convincing, even to my own ears. Only because this was the most comfortable bed in the history of beds.

"No, love." His voice was firm as he stood watching over me. "I'm not going to allow you to go home until I've explained myself. We'll fix all of this when we land tomorrow."

That made me sniffle, "land? Are we flying somewhere?" I asked in a sarcastic voice that I knew would never in a million years deter him from his plans.

Edward was already closing the door behind him when I hear his soft reply.

"Forks, Washington."

**

* * *

I don't usually do angst, but they had to deal with Bella's emotions or they'd never get anywhere.**

**Reviews = well, you know the drill by now :)**


	18. Forks

**My mind is obviously a warped and wonderful place for me to come up with the below smut.**

**Most of you already guessed what the dealio is, but it's all cleared up below. On with the seducing after his!**

**I have NO idea how long a private flight from NY to Forks would take, so I'm avoiding mentioning times like the plague.**

**150 reviews=update.**

**

* * *

BPOV.**

I always knew when I wasn't sleeping in my own bedroom.

It was the change in sounds, whether it be too little noise or too much.

It was the amount of light, whether it is too bright or too dark.

It was the smell, the distinct lack of my own scent, or the distinct presence of someone else's.

It was the feel of a foreign bed underneath me, the indentations, the dips and rises of someone else's mattress. The feel of someone else's sheets.

I was never able to fall asleep quickly in a bed that wasn't my own, and usually tossed and turned when I did manage it.

None of those things were a problem in Edward's bed. And I _knew _it was his bedroom, and not a guestroom.

The apartment was high enough that the sounds from the street were non-existent, but there was the gentle sway of wind outside, keeping the room from feeling oppressive. There were heavy curtains over the windows, but they weren't closed all the way, leaving enough light for me to make out distinct shapes. The entire room smelled of soap, and aftershave, and just, _him_. The mattress and sheets were incredibly expensive, judging by how warm and comfortable they made me feel.

Actually, I had never been more comfortable in my entire life. I had fallen asleep _very _quickly last night, through what was nothing short of sheer emotional fucking exhaustion. I had also tossed and turned, not because I was uncomfortable, but because the smell of Edward had been assaulting me. I think there was something in that thing about how a person's scent is the basis of attraction.

When I glanced over at the glowing clock on the bedside table, I saw that it was only a quarter past five in the morning. My graphic dreams had woken me up, leaving me sweaty, aching and frustrated in my crumpled blue dress. The crying from last night made my throat feel constricted, and my eyes were puffy and no doubt red rimmed.

I was a mess, and that wasn't even considering my emotional state.

Why couldn't Edward have just explained everything to me last night?

Was he that much of a coward?

The Edward Cullen I'd first seen had been a business mogul, calm in the face of angry competitors, dealing with billions of dollars without batting an eye. He was like one of the Mad Men.

The Edward Cullen I saw last night had flinched under my gaze, held onto me as if afraid I might disappear, and had refused to just _defend _his own ass. I remember hysterically telling him I hated him, that all this emotional crap had been his fault, and all he had done was timidly agree with me.

More important then that; was I really going to go interstate with him? I knew he had grown up in Forks and that that was still the location of the Cullen family home. I just couldn't understand how there would be anything to explain himself there that couldn't be found _here_.

Though Edward hadn't wanted me to go to my place, and had pretty much ordered me to come with him, I knew if I kicked up enough of a fuss he would never force me to do anything. The safe thing to do would be to bow out now, before he had a chance to break my heart further. The old Bella, the Bella who would never had believed she had a chance with Edward, would definitely take that route. The new Bella, the one who had seen _just_ how much Edward was attracted to her, decided to throw caution to the wind and make him show his hand.

Decided, and in desperate need of the facilities, I stumbled my way in the semi-darkness to the attached bathroom. After using the toilet, and after catching a glimpse of my face in the mirror, I quickly brushed my fingers through my hair and washed my face. I also used a little toothpaste, _Edward's_ toothpaste, and brushed my teeth with my finger.

Then I cautiously hedged my way into the white-walled corridor, deciding to leave my heels behind for now.

I couldn't actually remember which way the kitchen was, and Edward's apartment was a labyrinth. I had put through the documents for its purchase a few months ago, so I knew he had paid handsomely for the place.

I was starting to think I'd be stuck forever in a maze of white corridors like one of those lab-rats trying to get to the cheese, when I noticed a light on in a corridor a few down from the Master bedroom.

The door was partially opened, and artificial light was spilling out. I momentarily considered the merits of knocking, but if he was going to keep me in his house against my will (however weak my will had been) I thought, well, _fuck it_.

When I stepped inside, I felt my anger and something more primitive stirring. It was a guest bedroom. Which led me to beg the question, why didn't Edward just put me in here last night? The bed looked perfectly comfortable, so it wasn't like that was an issue. It also looked un-slept on, so unless Edward slept in another bedroom, I couldn't imagine what he had been doing while I was in his room.

My attention had been so trained on the un-ruffled bed that it took a minute for something else to penetrate my consciousness.

The sound of running water.

But more important then that; someone had just grunted my name.

I looked up from the bed slowly, to see that this room had an attached bathroom too, and that the door to said bathroom was wide open. I could only get a glimpse of a vanity mirror and the sink from where I was, but I could hear the shower running and the sounds of skin rubbing against skin.

_Shit._ I had already been worked up from my fervent dreams, but that was nothing to the way a hot flush swept over my skin, to the way my lower body clenched and then throbbed, to the way my breathing suddenly became labored, or to the way my nipples peaked under my dress.

I made a conscious decision to back out of the room and bury myself under the covers, but when I heard a groaned "fuck", my body made an _un_conscious decision to walk forward until I was standing in the doorway of the bathroom.

I bit my lip to keep from whimpering, and the throbbing in my lower body increased instantly and dramatically.

There was a shower with a clear glass door, with multiple showerheads. Edward was in the shower, and his body alone was worth whatever angst the man wanted to send my way.

_Want to use me shamelessly and then dump my ass?_

_Okey-dokey with me_._ Just be naked while you're going it_.

Edward was leaning his weight on his left leg, and the long but firm muscles in his thighs were clenched. The indentations of his hip bones were in stark relief because of his stance, and the light but defined muscles of his torso and chest were moving rapidly as he breathed heavily. The wry and sculpted strength of his arm was evident as he moved it, while the other was used to brace himself with a palm flat against the glass. His head was bowed, his eyes tightly shut, his darkened bronze hair flattened to his forehead. His face looked like he was in raging agony.

All of that alone would have been enough for me to die a happy woman, but it got even better. With that hand that wasn't bracing him against the glass, Edward was stroking the length of his erection in a quick and desperate rhythm. And I know I had felt that thing through his clothes a few times now, but I couldn't for the life of me imagine the semantics of something so _thick_ and fucking _long_ fitting inside a woman, let alone me. I mean sure, we had to give birth and stuff, but that involved a widening diaphragm. This just looked like a mathematical impossibility.

He was grunting under his breath, the water beating down on his shoulders, but when he gave a particularly vicious tug and twisted his fingers around the veined head, he moaned.

"Fuck, _please_ _Bella_."

I thought I'd heard him say my name before I came in, but seeing him as he abused himself while moaning it increased the wetness I already had to the point where I thought I could feel it on the inside of my hips.

I wanted to announce my presence by getting into the shower with him as equally as I wanted to run from the room and pretend I'd never been here. But I couldn't do either; my feet were frozen in place, my hands holding me up against the stretch of wall next to the door as I watched, enraptured.

The pace of his hand was picking up, as was his breathing. He was biting his lip, like he didn't want to say anything, but the next second his mouth opened raggedly and he snarled, "Angel...you're _so_ fucking tight...wet..."

Jesus Christ, what was Edward imagining? Was he imaging he was plunging that cock inside me?

I knew I needed to leave before I forgot the reasons I shouldn't let him bring _both _of our fantasies into reality – but it was very quickly too late for that.

Edward switched the motion of his hand, so he was twisting it around his shaft and using the tips of his fingernails to lightly scrape himself. When he did that, his whole body quivered and he thrust his hips into his hand, my name ripped from his mouth again.

Then, I whimpered.

_Loudly_.

Edward's eyes cracked open, his head snapped up, and his hand shot away from his bobbing erection and up to the glass, so he was leaning on it two handed.

His eyes widened in shock as he saw me standing not four feet away leaning on the wall for support. I tried to coherently explain that I had accidentally walked in, but the lie wouldn't come out. All I could do was open and close my mouth like a goldfish. My brain so clogged with excitement that I couldn't even attempt to pry myself away from the wall to flee.

Edward seemed to be having similar issues of coherency, but my traitorous eyes also noted that when he spotted me there, his cock twitched. He broke eye contact with me and his aroused gaze lowered to my chest, no doubt taking in my nipples, which were tight and prominent against the confines of only my silk dress. His gaze then swept down to my legs, where the slit exposed the skin up to my hips, which were crossed against the throbbing between them.

For a minute the only sounds were our heavy breathing and the rushing water. I think Edward was waiting for me to leave, which I was incapable of, and I was waiting for him to say something.

He locked eyes with me again, cocking his head slightly just like he had before he'd pushed himself against me in my parking garage a few weeks ago; judging my reactions.

Then, incredibly slowly, watching me the entire time, he trailed his hand from the glass and back down to his cock. He let out a low growl, somewhere between pleasure and pain, as his hand wrapped around the base again.

_OH._ _MY._ _GOD._

Was he really going to touch himself in front of me? Was there any possible way I could be more turned-on right now?

Edward looked up at me from under his long, wet eyelashes, silently asking for permission to continue. The way he was tilting his head like that and the look he was giving me would have been coy, if it wasn't for what was happening for the neck down.

I didn't move an inch, though I think I may have licked my lips, which apparently was all Edward needed to start pumping his fist again.

"Yes..." he hissed, eyes still fixed on me.

He was going slower then he had been before, trying to prolong things now. I tried to keep my eyes locked with his, but it was only half a minute before my eyes dropped to his hands movements. As soon as Edward saw I was looking at him he growled, his other hand clawing at the glass as if trying to break through it.

"You know what I'm thinking about? How good it would feel to bury myself in you." He panted, beginning to shift his hips towards his hand, "to stretch you...to fill you..." the hand sped up again, "to move deep inside you...to pleasure you..."

If he was trying to kill me, he was doing a good job. I let out a moan, and then my feet, which had been glued to the ground, carried me forward, until I was standing in front of Edward.

At my actions, his eyes automatically clenched shut while his cock twitched in his hand, but he forced them half open, so he looked sleepy and menacing. I proudly recognized it as his I'm-about-to-cum face.

"Closer...." he breathed.

I moved forward until I was basically pressed against the glass, my hand coming up so it was flat on the other side of his.

Edward was breathing as if he had just run a marathon now, his whole body moving as he touched his length.

"So fucking beautiful...Bella, my Angel..." he muttered as he stared into my eyes, and then his body went rigid and I look down to see his cum spurting out of his tip and against the glass. The water washed it away as soon as it appeared, while Edward kept pumping until the last drop.

His head came heavily against the glass as his hand dropped wearily. Mine dropped too, though that was all I was capable of moving.

I watched greedily as Edward caught his breath, turned the shower off, and then reached for the towel he had hanging over the top of the glass partition, all without looking at me. He made a half assed attempt at drying himself off before he slung the towel around his hips, thus denying me any future view of his behind.

He stepped out of the shower, and I could see him now eyeing me warily out of my peripheral vision. Possibly wondering why I was playing the living statue. I didn't even know properly, except that I hadn't been this aroused since he touched me in his Volvo, and that I had just seriously realized I was willing to take any manner of ill or idle treatment if it meant I got him in the bargain.

I felt his fingers graze my shoulder cautiously, and I started at his touch. Then I whimpered again, which I blame completely on the dirty images that were burned onto my retinas.

Edward sucked in a breath when the involuntary sound left my throat and quickly retracted his fingers.

"I've organized the jet for a 0700 departure." He croaked, and then he added in a rush, "but I can help you, give you release. Please you, if you want me to."

I'd love to deny how turned on I was, but it would have been the most barefaced lie in history, and I'm pretty certain my nose would grow, _Pinocchio_ style.

I'd also love to take Edward up on his offer, but in my few hours of sleep I had managed to garner some prospective, and I knew I would regret letting anything happen believing what I currently did about him. If Edward were certain there was something in his hometown that could absolve himself in my eyes, then I would listen to what he had to say first.

And then I'd attack him like a fucking she-cat.

I took a deep breath, though I wasn't capable of turning to look at him yet.

"I'm fine, thank you. But I would like to stop by my house for some clothes...and a shower."

From his low moan, I think he knew exactly what I would be doing in that shower.

**

* * *

EPOV.**

Thankfully neither of Bella's roommates had been home when we went back to her apartment. That allowed me to shamelessly snoop through her bedroom while she changed and showered, making mental note of her music and book collections for future reference. It also meant no one was there to see me pacing like a maniac, due to the sneaking suspicion Bella was touching herself during her shower.

I hadn't planned on Bella walking in on me earlier, but I had been so desperate to touch myself that I hadn't even thought about closing the doors properly.

It was my own fault. I shouldn't have put Bella in my bedroom to sleep. It had been some sick, twisted part of me that had refused to let her sleep anywhere else, wanting her in _my_ bed, sleeping in my sheets, even if I couldn't join her there. A bed is just a bed, right? Well apparently not to my primal side.

I'd closed the door behind her after telling her where we were going, and then I had been unable to even consider sleeping, too caught up in the explanation she had given me about her anger towards me. Too caught up in the sincere way she had said, "I hate you", and how, taken from what she thought, she had every right to do so. I felt guilty for not taking her home, but I knew I couldn't allow another night for her resentment to fester and grow.

I spent all night in the corridor outside my room, not doing anything except making the necessary arrangements concerning out trip to Forks, and thinking in circles.

At about quarter to five, I heard Bella whimpering. I found myself silently opening the door and coming into the room before my brain could even comprehend the action, and what I had seen had made my cock ache painfully.

Bella was having a, from the looks of things, _very_ erotic dream, moaning in bed, and arching her spine deliciously. I had felt like an intrusive voyeur watching, so I had quickly retreated.

After about ten minutes.

To have her find me pleasuring myself to my very verbose thoughts of her should have been like one of those nightmares where you accidentally come to school naked. Instead, seeing how much _seeing _me turned her on, and how much it turned me on for her to see how much I wanted her, it had been one of the best orgasms I had ever had.

It made me all the more determined to have everything sorted out in Forks.

I apologized profusely to Bella when I had work to do on the plane, though most of that was spent coordinating with Emmett and Jasper. She had tried to offer her professional services to me, even making a joke out of it, saying that though I be previously unaware, she actually worked as an Assistant. I adamantly refused; telling her to sit back and enjoy the champagne the stewardess had served her.

Neither of us was verbally acknowledging what had happened earlier, and neither of us was mentioning what would be happening later. It was like our entire relationship was balanced on the edge of a knife, and we both knew it could fall either way.

Though, I considered wryly, I don't think I would be physical capable of letting her go one-way or the other.

We barely spoke as I began the hour-long drive from the airport to our family manor on the outskirts of the town, except for when I, oh, so casually put in a Dan Auerbach CD. Bella made a little pleased sound (which I mentally noted to wring out of her again in the near future) and mentioned shortly that this was one of her favorites.

I knew this, of course. I had seen the CD, looking well used, next to the stereo in her bedroom. I never said I would play fair.

By the time we got to my house, the rain had picked up and there was a curtain of thunder so thick it looked like the middle of the night, as apposed to three in the afternoon. The white, secluded mansion looked eerily beautiful against the backdrop of trees and rain, and I hoped Bella would appreciate it when both of us weren't so nervous.

I turned to her once we were parked in the garage, seeing the thousands of questions in her eyes.

"My mother is in there." I stated, lamely.

Her eyebrows knitted together in confusion as she played habitually with the sleeves of her curve hugging grey sweater dress.

"O-_kk_ay...so, we're here because?"

I took a deep breath. "As I'm sure you know, my father's impending retirement is approaching. Both my parents have decided to move permanently from New York to our home here. My father already spends most of his time here now, and Esme has already moved properly."

I could see the wheels turning in her head as she considered my innocent summary.

"So we're here to talk to Esme?" she clarified, looking mystified as to how this could explain anything.

"Correct. I've already messaged her as to the purpose of our visit, so she'll be expecting us."

Bella was looking at me as if I was all kinds of loony, but she only nodded.

I led Bella out of the car, leaving our bags there for now because I really wanted to get this whole thing over with as quickly as possible, another fact I'd urged Esme on, too.

Esme was waiting for us in the foyer, looking as beautiful as ever, and arching an eyebrow at me. I couldn't blame her. I had _never _brought a girl home to Forks, and I'd never gone to this much trouble for anyone before.

I released my hand from around Bella and stepped over to my mother, pulling her into a bone-crushing hug of gratitude.

"Thanks, Mom." I whispered in her ear, low enough that Bella wouldn't be able to hear.

"Hmph." Esme, on the other hand, had no qualms talking loud enough that Bella would be able to hear if she was still in New York, let alone two feet away. "Well, we'll talk about your thanks _after _I've set your pretty girl here straight."

When I pulled away from Esme, Bella was blushing profusely, either from the reprimanding tone in my mother's voice or from the compliment she had been given.

"Angel this is Esme, Mom this is Bella Swan." I gestured between the two as my adorable Bella held out a nervous hand. Esme rolled her eyes in an expression so like one of mine that I smiled, and pulled Bella in to hug her.

As I watched my mother meet, hug, and approve of the woman I loved, I felt a pleasant tightening in my chest.

_God, I was turning into such a pussy_.

"Well," Esme said in a cheerful voice, as she pulled away from Bella, "let's air our dirty laundry, shall we?"

She released Bella completely and turned to lead us into the kitchen. Bella and I followed, or more specifically I followed while leading Bella, who was looking increasingly confused as to how Esme could be involved in this mess.

When we reached the kitchen Esme gestured us to two of the stools at the bench, while she busied herself with making us all a coffee. Bella and I sat down side-by-side in a moved so synchronized that my mother gave me another raised eyebrow.

"So, Bella," she said as she worked, "why don't you tell me exactly what you think my Edward has done?"

"Mom, it's not Bella's fault." I rebuked, because if I had the information Bella had, I would have presumed the worst as well.

Bella held up a hand to silence me as she watched my mother bustling around the kitchen. She seemed to be thinking very hard about something, and not for the first time did I find myself dying to know what went on in her head.

"It's fine, Edward." Bella said, without looking at me. She then proceeded to explain how Jessica had overheard a portion of my father's conversation with me on Thursday, and, to my surprise, how she had found a picture of Angela and me in my desk.

I winced internally, imaging how the inscription on the back could have looked.

Esme leant back against the counter opposite us while she listened, until she gave Bella an understanding smile.

"I can see how you would have made particular assumptions, then. I do hope you haven't been torturing Edward too badly, however."

I blushed, a reaction that only my mother and possibly the girl next to me could get out of me. I couldn't help it, remembering the particular method by which Bella had chosen to torture me last night. _The feeling of her soft, warm little hand running over the ridge of my cock…_

When I turned slightly so I could watch Bella's face more freely, she sent me what could only be described as a provocative smirk. "Nothing he couldn't handle," she said, _winking_ at my mother.

The woman was like a bloody minx.

Esme laughed at my discomfort. "Well I think you're going to want to make it up to him when you hear the truth, dear."

"Geez, Mom." I muttered, as her and Bella laughed even further. It was one thing for Bella and I to talk about sex; I just _really_ didn't need my mother in the equation.

Bella's laughter died out first, her impatience evident. Esme, seeing this too, took a deep breath and turned around to pick up the kettle.

"Alright, dear, please don't interrupt and listen carefully. For the past several years, my husband and I have been fighting over his working hours. I felt he was working too long, always going on business trips, sometimes not even making it home at the end of a day. My thinking was, I had three wonderful sons who would be perfectly capable of handling more responsibility," here she turned in her coffee making efforts to give me a warm smile, "so that Carlisle could perhaps retire. When I suggested this to him..."

"He didn't want to quit?" Bella guessed; engrossed in my mother's tale though I could see, as I stared obsessively at her face, that she didn't yet understand where it was leading.

"Exactly," my mother agreed, turning to place two superb cups of coffee in front of us. In a move so young and carefree that I had to grin, she hopped up onto the bench so she could face us. "It was one of the worst fights we'd ever had. We both said some things in the heat of the moment that we regretted almost instantly, the worst of which was when I told him to leave and never come back. I was hurt and foolish, and Carlisle was stubborn and proud...just like his sons." She added pointedly, for my benefit.

Bella's face was transforming in a picture of slowly awakening understanding as the story unfolded. Hesitantly, I reached out and placed my hand on top of hers, almost giddy with relief when she turned hers around so we could link fingers, though she was still looking intently at Esme and not at me.

Esme watched our hands for a moment before I got yet _another _eyebrow as she continued.

"Carlisle and I separated, though we were both miserable and still kept up public appearances. And one night, at a retirement party for one of the CIC board members, Carlisle had too much to drink, as did Angela, and they made the mistake of sleeping together."

Bella let a startled gasp out and looked at Esme in mortification. "I'm so sorry."

"Well yes, and so were they." Esme said in an overly solemn tone, making me see how much better she was dealing with the way she was playing up for her audience. "Both agreed the next morning that it was a mistake, and Carlisle came to me that same day and explained what happened. I won't give you the gory details of what we had to go through to get past this now, because that isn't the point. The point is that Angela fell pregnant, and in my insecurity, I refused to let Carlisle publicly acknowledge the baby. Carlisle felt the same, though we both knew Angela would have to be supported while we worked through our issues. So Carlisle went to Edward, who, ah, didn't react well."

"What she means is that I broke his nose," I clarified for Bella nonchalantly, who let out a squeak of shock. Definitely a great audience. She had the right reaction to everything. I'd have to think of a more entertaining story to tell her soon.

Esme shot me a disapproving frown. "Yes, right, so Carlisle knew Edward was close to Angela because of their working proximity, and he trusted Edward's discretion. Edward's been helping Angela with the baby, setting up financial support and generally just being there for both of them, until Carlisle and I are ready. Edward, being the gentleman he is, didn't want to tell you this himself, because he knew it was a sore but personal topic for me. Hence, why you're here."

Bella turned her shocked eyes on me, and I could practically see the light bulbs flashing above her head as it all came together for her.

"So Carlisle, when he was speaking to you on Thursday..." she attempted, but trailed off.

I jumped in quickly to fill in the rest of the conversation. "Carlisle disapproved of my seeing you, because he feared I would end up in a situation like his."

I didn't like telling her this, still remembering her calling herself an "easy lay". I knew I would have to reveal my feelings to her as soon as possible to remedy that situation. And because, well, I wanted to shout it from the motherfucking rooftops.

"And when he said that it looked like I was with more then one woman at once, he simply meant because there was a chance I could be photographed with Ange and my...brother, in the same breath as being seen with you." _Like I could ever want another woman._

I was clenching her fingers too tightly, waiting for her to process everything, so I unwillingly retracted my hand from her warm softness.

"Do you see now?" My mother was smiling brightly between us, also waiting.

"The man who's going to make a great daddy..." Bella whispered, still in a dazed voice. I knew she was quoting the inscription Angela had written on the back of the photo in my desk.

"She meant I'd make a great dad someday." _With you, Angel_, I silently added.

Both Esme and I were waiting with baited breath for Bella to react in someway. When she finally did react, it wasn't in the way I expected.

It was much better.

One second, she was sitting there, looking shocked, the next; she was throwing herself at me so hard that we toppled into the counter, narrowly missing my coffee as I steadied her with my arms.

"Oh, Edward, I have so much to make up to you." I heard in my ear, right before I felt her lips pressing into my neck.

I had a feeling this was going to be the greatest weekend _ever_.

**

* * *

So, thoughts?**

**Things are going to be great fun for our lovebirds from here on in, some more hotness, except post-baby misunderstanding; they get the depth of their feelings a little better.**

**150 reviews = update.**


	19. Porn Stars

**SORRY!**

**Fan fiction wouldn't let me log in for whatever reason yesterday. Very weird, but totally not my fault! **

**Ooh, also, because this annoyed me, someone commented that it's unrealistic for Jazz and Em to befriend a lowly secretary. Ekscuse me, but can you imagine someone like Emmett giving a shit about class or work distinctions? I think not.**

**Bella _totally _begins making it up to Edward in this chapter.**

**Reviews=update.**

**

* * *

BPOV.**

I was such an idiot.

A fool.

A tool.

A Goober, as Emmett would put it.

I had spent months believing Edward was a fantastic, wonderful man, who treated everyone amazingly. I had _seen _his relationship with Angela when I first started work, and I had seen that it was platonic. But, like the insecure child that I was, the second someone had presented me with even a smidgen of negative information about him, my self-doubt had latched on to it.

Then, even worse then that, I had spent the following day accusing him of using me, accusing him of being a womanizer. In reality, _I _was the one who had set out to seduce him, not the other way around. I felt like the biggest hypocrite in the universe. Then to top it all off, I was horrible to him because of my ironic combination of pride and doubt, and he had just taken it, just let me call him all those horrible names, let me treat him like shit.

Sitting at the Cullen's kitchen island, with Esme looking at me expectantly, and Edward looking at me anxiously, I couldn't believe what a fool I'd been.

I looked at Edward, at the way his hands were clenched, his eyes wide and bright, like he was unconsciously expecting me to not believe him, and I did the first thing that came to my mind.

I attacked that sexy, gentlemanly motherfucker.

I used my hands as leverage to push myself up, wrapping my legs around his waist so that my dress rode up inappropriately. The iron rods he called arms came up to automatically wrap around me so we wouldn't topple into his coffee, as my hands wrapped tight around his neck.

I buried my face in and whispered to him, "Oh Edward, I have so much to make up to you." Because it was so incredibly true.

Then, because I couldn't help it, I pressed a hot, open-mouthed kiss to his neck.

"Bella..." he groaned, clutching me tighter, his face in my hair. "I understand, I would have made far worse presumptions u-under the...um...circum..._crap_...stances."

As he was speaking I began frantically kissing every inch of his neck, not bothering to hold back on the teeth or tongue action. By the time he was finished, Edward was pulling me tighter against him and had a firm grip on my thighs.

"Eh-hem." This time we groaned in unison, looking over at Esme, who both of us had forgotten was there. She was swinging her legs in front of her and looking at us like we were a mildly interesting television show.

She raised an eyebrow at Edward as he corrected me in my stool so I was sitting sideways in his lap, his arms still securely around my waist.

"Sorry, Mom." He grinned unrepentantly at her, the lightest, happiest grin I'd ever seen gracing his face. It was like he forgot all the angst of the last few days, though I most certainly hadn't. _I _had a lot of groveling to do, whether he wanted it or not.

"Sure you are." Esme rolled her eyes and then turned her amused face my way. "Honestly, I raised him better then to go at it like a rabbit in public, but you seem to make him forget his good upbringing."

Edward, who had taken that moment to attempt his first sip of coffee, choked loudly. He was also blushing like crazy; no doubt because he realized the _only _place we had done anything had been in public places. Edward blushing should have been cute, but all I could remember was his flushed cheeks in the shower this morning as he stroked himself and stared at me, rendering the cute theory null-and-void.

The man was A-grade, smokin' hot.

"Could you not freak Bella out ten minutes after she's walked through the door, please?" he sounded genuinely affronted, which made me snigger into my hand. This was the Edward that Jasper had once described as "stick-up-the-ass".

"I _know_," I said cheekily to Esme, wanting to make him blush more, "I keep telling him to get a room, but he insists on going at it in the front seat of his Volvo."

Esme laughed at what she presumed to be a joke, but Edward squeezed me warningly at the hips and chuckled darkly.

"On that note, I think I'll give Bella a tour before your surprise arrives." He gave my hip a light smack to get me to stand.

As soon as I was on my feet, both Esme and I turned our questioning looks on him. That was obviously the first Esme had heard of any surprise that would be arriving in the near future, too.

"Surprise?" Esme asked, "For whom?"

Edward wrapped an arm around my neck, resting his cheek on the top of my head, and reached over the counter to squeeze Esme's had briefly. "My two favorite girls, of course."

Neither of us could help giggling, because the man was damn charming when he put that genius mind of his to it.

Edward let me get in a finger wave at Esme, before he began dragging me out of the room. We passed quickly by the garage and down another white walled corridor. Apparently I wasn't moving fast enough for him, because he abruptly scooped me up bridal style as he ascended a staircase.

"Um, what happened to a tour?" I asked him breathlessly, staring up at his face.

Edward leant down and pressed a kiss to the tip of my nose, his face still shining in exultation.

"I'm getting a room – as requested by you, love." He smirked, raising his eyebrows suggestively.

_Oh goody._

The room in question turned out to be his childhood bedroom. I had expected, from what he had told me about Esme redecorating or making the house inhabitable or whatever, that it would be just like another guestroom.

Instead, it seemed like a perfectly preserved 17-year-old boy's room. There was a desk scattered in essays, books and CD's, an impressive sound system and a TV facing the bed. None of that would have particularly screamed "17 year old boy", except that his bedspread had the Batman logo dotted over it.

When Edward dropped me gently on his bed I look up at him and told him in a completely deadpan voice, "ooh baby. Your sheets are making me horny."

Edward grinned wider – wider because he had been grinning since my attack in the kitchen – and told me in his smuttiest voice, "I happened to have had quite a few women waking up in that bed and being unable to feel their legs, I'll have you know."

Yeah. I already kinda knew that, thanks to his brother's extraordinarily graphic descriptions of Edward's previous sexual encounters. I also knew that there was a porn collection hidden in the back of one of his hollowed-out stereos speakers.

_I wanted to see it_.

By the time I was looking up at Edward again, he was frowning worriedly, probably at the glazed expression that must have just been on my face as I thought about him jacking-off like he had in the shower.

"You understand now?" he asked me tensely. "About Angela? I wasn't using you. Never would, never could."

I hung my head, my guilt overtaking me. I couldn't believe he wasn't shouting at me for being a mistrustful bitch towards him. But if Edward still wanted me, I wasn't going to push him away.

"I'm sorry I was such a cow towards you, it's just that..."

When I trailed off, Edward dropped to his knees in front of me and took my hands in his. His face looked so serious that I knew whatever he was going to say next would be damn important. Like, "Luke, I _am_ your father" kind of important.

"I understand." Edward started in a serious tone. He took a deep breath and seemed to reconsider how he was going to say what he wanted. "It's just that...you are _soooo_ totally into me, aren't you my little Angel?"

_Geesh_.

Euphoric Edward needed to shut up.

"Edward," I rolled my eyes, "will your mom be checking up on us?"

He was already leaning forward from his crouching position, so I was forced back on my elbows.

"Why, because you want me?" he was still joking, still joyful, but his words brought back the memory of me telling him cruelly that I very much _didn't_ want him anymore, and I knew I had to make this right.

And I could think of just the way to begin making it up to him.

I grabbed a fistful of his black t-shirt and used it to pull him down to me. Edward gasped at the quick move, bracing himself with one knee against my hips and the other foot on the floor.

"I'm sorry," I whispered, as his lips hovered over mine.

Edward's eyes shinned down at me forgivingly, dismissively. His hands came up to cup my face.

"It's nothing. It was all worth it if I got you in the bargain."

Then he pressed his lips to mine. It was nothing like any of our previous kisses. Edward took his time, pulling my bottom lip between his and sucking gently. His mouth was open and he began running his tongue back and forth across my lip. His fingers were caressing my face as if I was made of glass. It was like was trying to convey the _rightness _of this chemistry between us, like he was telling me it was okay to be in love with him.

It was I who became the impatient one, opening my lips to him and letting his tongue into my mouth. I greedily sucked on the wet muscle, relishing the taste that I had quickly become addicted to. Edward's hands moved to my hair in response, fisting it between his fingers and tilting my head so he could push his tongue further in. He was pressing it into mine, moving around the inside of my mouth like he wanted to take up permanent residence in there.

His body, which had been held up by his elbows, suddenly pressed down on me, his chest crushing the air out of me. I pushed up against him, loving the way he covered me, moaning around his tongue.

When we both needed to break away for air, Edward buried his face in my chest, breathing heavily – though he seemed more like he was taking in my scent then catching his breath.

I heard him mutter a "perfect" in a content voice against my skin, but I knew I still needed to do much more for him to quell my own discontent.

And I had a wonderfully _wicked_ idea.

I began running my hand through his bronze hair, scratching his scalp like he loved.

"So," I breathed casually as he practically purred at my scratching, "Emmett and Jazz and I w-"

Edward groggily raised himself up on his elbows to give me an offended look.

"Are you kidding me?" he huffed in a faux indignant voice, peering down at my face. "I just had my long-as-a-fucking-lizard, experienced tongue in your mouth and you were busy thinking about my brothers?!"

"No," I told him sweetly, "I was thinking about the porn collection hidden in your stereo that your brothers happened to tell me about."

Wow. Three blushes from Edward in one day. That had to be a record or something. I nudged him off me and stood up, while he crawled over and sat against his pillows in a huff.

"It's not like I'm a pervert or something..." he muttered, watching me as I headed towards the sound system.

"I mean, I was only a teen the last time I watched them..." I checked the back of the first dusty speaker but found nothing, so I quickly moved on to the next.

"Besides, half of those are Emmett's anyway..." I found the hollowed out hole in the back of the second one, and quickly pulled out a bunch of DVD's.

"You are _not_ allowed to judge me for ten year old porn!"

I turned towards the gorgeous, annoyed looking man sitting on his Batman sheets and smiled lovingly at him.

"Let's watch one. Right now."

**

* * *

EPOV.**

One minute we had been making out on my bed, and I had been so fucking happy that I wanted to do an Irish jig or something, and the next second she was standing casually at my stereo, flipping through my porn and telling me she wanted to watch one. I could feel my mouth falling open and my eyes popping out of my head. I probably looked like an idiot, but my mind was too busy processing the perfection that was Bella.

She seemed to have a definite thing for feeling me up in public.

Her revenge when she thought I was a bastard was to come into my office not wearing any underwear.

And now, she was standing there, looking at me with her fucking Angel eyes, asking me to watch porn with her.

_God_, I whimpered internally, _I bet she swallows too_.

Bella's eyes flashed in delight, and I realized my internal statement was apparently not that internal after all. _Shit_.

"Is that what you want, Edward? You want to watch..." she looked down at the cover of the DVD in her hand in amusement, "...Jade here getting screwed while I service your needs?"

_You were going to do things the right way. Take things slow. You were going to do things the right way. Take things slow. You were going to-_

"I asked you a question, _Angel_." Bella was fiddling with my TV, interrupting my mental resolve, sliding something into the DVD slot as she shot her commanding question over her shoulder. Using the nickname I'd given _her_ on me.

I knew my mind was in the gutter, but her tone immediately led me to imagine her with a riding crop in one hand and knee-high fuck-me boots. My jeans had already been tight due to our note-worthy, award winning kisses, but now it was painful. Her eyes flicked down to my distinct bulge as she turned back from the TV.

"I...ah," I cleared my throat, mentally rolling my eyes; _and I was supposed to be the experienced one_. "I don't want you to do anything that you don't feel comfortable with."

There.

That sounded like something you would say to the woman you wanted to be the future mother of your children.

Apparently, Bella didn't think so. She shook her head as she turned from the TV, the remote in one hand. Then achingly slow, she began crawling across the bed towards me. I was sitting upright against the headboard, so she was giving me a fantastic view of those breasts I had held all too briefly before.

"Admiring the view?" she asked me softly, pausing when she was hovering over my legs.

I knew I was blatantly staring, but her cleavage in the v-neck of her sweater dress was mesmerizing. And it was all fucking mine. The last few days were behind us, she wanted me again (obviously not as much as I wanted her, considering I'd been panting after her for months and months), and she had willingly kissed me. It was more then I had ever hoped for when she had told me she hated me last night.

"Yes, I most certainly am." Then, because the cruder I was the more she seemed to enjoy it, I added, "I want suck on every inch of those delicious looking tits." _I will do it_.

"That can be arranged." She murmured, watching me for a reaction. I didn't disappoint, mouth falling open again, eyes rolling back a little. I had to lick my lips to keep from drooling. She was turning me into a fucking caveman.

"Bella, I don't think I could stop myself if you let me do that now, love." And I doubted very much that she wanted to loose her virginity in my Batman sheets while my mother was downstairs. Though, she wouldn't be the first if that were the case.

Bella gave a nonchalant shrug, and then, in complete disregard to what I had just said, she reached down, crossing her arms so the left hand was holding the bottom right hand side of her dress and vice versa. Then, at a pace that was enough to set me on fire, she lifted the dress up and over her head.

Underneath she was wearing a matching see-through blue thong and bra, with a fucking garter belt. It was like she had sat down with my subconscious and had planned a campaign to give me blue balls or something. There was no way she was just randomly wearing my favorite color with a garter belt, like a fantasy come to life.

"_Fuck me_..." I grunted under my breath, my eyes greedily fixed on the smooth planes of her stomach and the beautiful curve of her breasts. It was odd that I had had her spread out over me but that I had never seen her top half before. I had been missing out.

Bella straddled my thighs, well below my erection, and reached both arms behind her, giving me an even _better_ view of her breasts.

"Now, here's what were gonna do, _Mr. Cullen_."

_Please don't call me Mr. Cullen while you're straddling me and taking off your bra, I don't want to jizz my pants like a twelve-year-old_. Bella didn't hear my silent plea, though apparently she wouldn't heed it if she did, because next second she had finished fumbling behind her back and her bra joined the heap of clothing on the floor.

Her breasts. Her fucking fantastic breasts.

Angels in heaven should be writing sonnets about them.

Those creepy shrines that stalkers keep in their basements should be erected to them.

A flag should be placed on the moon in honor of them.

I started absently rubbing my hips together in an attempt to alleviate the painful constriction of my jeans, while my whole being focused on the glorious peach nipples that tightened under my attentive eyes.

"You're going to watch this DVD." Bella ordered me in a husky voice that made me throb, "and as I plan on being a little...busy...you're going to tell me exactly what's happening - except I want to hear about _you_ doing it to _me_. Understood?"

I nodded submissively, unable to form words through my staggered breathing. _If this was Bella in control, I'm glad I'm hers to order around_.

Bella hit play and snaked down my body, so that her thighs were over shins, her face near my zipper. I was already twitching, and she hadn't even touched me yet.

"Eyes on the screen, Edward. And where's my running commentary?" she asked me, and I guilty flicked my eyes up. Anything to keep her from stopping whatever it was she planned on doing.

"R-right," I tried to focus on the images and sounds in front of me, and not the fact that Bella was rubbing her hands along the insides of my thighs. "Jade is-"

Bella squeezed the tops of my thighs, making me jump slightly and cutting me off. I look down at her questioningly, which was a mistake. Her tits were squished against the mattress; her head was between my legs, and her hair was spilling across her bare back.

"Not Jade, silly. _Bella_, remember?"

"If this is you making things up to me, then I don't even want to imagine what you punishing me would be like." I couldn't help but say, because asking me to imagine I was doing the things that were being done on TV with her was going to make me cum in about twenty seconds.

"I could stop, if you'd prefer..."

I immediately looked back up to the screen and began in a monotone, "I'm positioning you on the bed so you're on all fours facing away from me."

Bella began stroking me through my jeans, as the male star spoke one of his lines. When I didn't speak the line too, she stopped touching me, making my hips buck towards the missed warmth.

"I'm going to plough that tight cunt from behind." I quickly quoted, though I was unable to manage the monotone anymore. Instead my voice sounded rough, like I was practically on the verge of tears. In reward, Bella reached up and started lowering my zipper.

"He's, I mean, _I'm_, running my hands along the insides of your thighs." I lifted my hips for Bella as she tried to lower my jeans. I wasn't expecting her to yank down my boxers too, so I couldn't help but moan through the actor's next line as the course material rubbed against me as I sprung free.

"Keep going," Bella reminded me, throwing my jeans and boxers onto the growing pile of disregarded garments.

"Y-your pussy is dripping wet for me." I quoted once more, my voice cracking because I was easily imagining it was Bella and I doing these things.

I made the mistake of looking down again, only to find my whole body shuddering as I watched her position my shaft between her breasts. She was holding both her breasts in her hands, squeezing them together so they nestled me. This time I needed no encouragement to look back to the screen. If I watched her do that, I would embarrass myself by ending things prematurely.

"I'm pushing your hips as-s far apart as they can g-go." Bella had begun moving up and down, and the softness and warmth against me was indescribable. That, combined with me having to describe the sexual acts on the screen, was making my cock heavy and moist with leakage. " I'm roughly shoving three fingers into your pussy, thrusting them in and out, t-telling you that I want you to be ready for my big dick."

"Look down." Bella ordered then. I closed my eyes, willing myself not to cum the second I opened them again, and then looked down at her. "Is this the big dick you're talking about, Edward?"

Bella's big eyes were looking up at me, her hair thrown over one shoulder and her lips still wet from mine. My cock was between her breasts, and she was sliding up and down so the tip went from the base of her breasts until it was under her chin. There must have been a lot of pre-cum, because was a distinct wet trail on her skin. I felt a terrifying, dark, primal desire consume me as I watched.

"Please don't stop." I blurted, because it was the most amazing sight I'd ever witnessed, especially when I twitched against her in response to seeing it.

"Then answer me," she demanded, making sure I was watching when she lowered her mouth to press the tip of her tongue into the slit on my head. There was a little, encouraging voice in my head that kept chanting,_ make this last, make this last_. But if she kept doing things like that, it was going to be difficult.

"_Angel_. Please don't stop. It was mine, my cock I was preparing you for." _Fuck_, _just saying that_...

"Good." She approved, moving me up and down again. "Keep watching."

I turned back and began again, "I've plunged my cock into you from behind, and I-I'm pounding in and out as hard as possible. My hand is wrapped around some of your hair, and I'm jerking you back each plunge so I can go in d-deeper."

Bella slowing down her actions made me look at her again.

"Tell me how much I'm enjoying having your cock in me and I'll start sucking on your head," she told me, looking me straight in the eye and licking her plump lips.

I let out a sob of need and began thrusting my hips up, so I could move my cock faster between her tits. She _had _to stop saying things like that, or I was going to forget the game we were playing and throw her down like a fucking animal to devour her whole.

I couldn't for the life of me tear my eyes away from what Bella was doing to me, so I quickly invented my own monologue, which was so much better, because I was _really_ picturing Bella now.

"You're trying to moan, but I'm fucking you so hard all you can do is let out a little squeak every time I bury in." Bella smiled approvingly at my harshly spoken words. Then she lowered herself so that my shaft was stimulated by her breasts, and fixed her lips over the tip of my cock.

I had imagined Bella's mouth on me so many times, but nothing, _nothing_, had prepared me for the reality. She felt so amazing; the suction of those lips, the way her tongue was swirling around my tip, occasionally pressing into the slit, combined with her breasts, which she was rubbing in her hands around my shaft now that she couldn't move.

"Don't stop," I groaned, but she gave me a challenging look that reminded me I needed to keep speaking. That was proving harder by the second, as I felt myself moving quickly towards my release. "Y-you're so..._shit_...so wet that-t my cock is glistening with..._don't stop_...your juices every time, _fuck_, every time it comes out of-f your tight hole."

Bella pressed her tongue flat against me again, and suddenly I couldn't hold out anymore. My cock started twitching, my eyes automatically shut, my head fell back, and I was chanting her name as I released in several spurts into her mouth.

And she swallowed it all, sucking me until I couldn't release anymore, and then licking me fucking clean.

_Mine_.

I fell back against the pillows, exhausted, reaching down to scoop her up and pull her against me. I couldn't believe it. She was all mine. Mine forever; because I was never letting her go, never letting another man see the amazingly sexual creature she became behind closed doors.

"Yeah, well, you're mine, too." She told me, her lulling hands running up and down chest.

_Crap_. I really needed to work on not speaking my every thought out loud.

"Yep," Bella agreed, laughing against my neck, "You really do."

**

* * *

I don't know why I write all this weird ass smut.**

**First the foot job and now the...boob job?**

**Anyways, thoughts?**

**Reviews=update.**


	20. Sleeping Habits

**There seems to be a few of the same questions popping up, so I hope this answers them:**

**1) Edward DOESN'T know for certain if Bella is a virgin, he's just making some very accurate presumptions. It is Edward after all; he's very good a reading people and he's been watching her closely for months.**

**2) Bella obviously seems like she knows some very dirty tricks, but like I mentioned in previous chapters, she has rounded _some _bases, she just hasn't lost her virginity. And besides, girls can learn anything these days from Cosmo!**

**3) Some of you want more R/E and A/J in this story. Sorry, I just find it incredibly boring to write about the progress of their relationships, because in my head I picture them as already having been together forever. But I'll see what I can do.**

**4) A Volvo full of reviews=update.**

**And now, on with the show!**

**

* * *

BPOV.**

After our escapades from earlier – particularly dirty talking Edward and crazy boob job Bella – we had both been too tired to do anything but settle in for a nap. Edward had put an alarm on his Blackberry to wake us up before dinner.

For modesties sake, he had struggled back into his boxers; though he had also struggled out of his black t-shirt, so I could wear it.

Something about; and I quote, "marking his territory".

I'd suggested he pee on me and get that shit over with, and he'd responded that he was very tired right that second, but that he'd give it a shot when we woke up.

I couldn't fall in love with the boring, timid guys – I _had _to fall in love with the glib motherfucker.

It was close to 6pm now, and I was analyzing Edward's sleeping habits in a way only a psycho stalker chick could. What I had found so far was encouraging.

When we had first curled up under the covers, around two and a half hours ago, Edward had pulled me into him so that he was spooning me, my entire body curled up in the space between his neck and his hips.

His head had been buried so far in my hair that I was worried he'd asphyxiate, but he'd simply chuckled sleepily and told me it would be my fault for using such fantastic smelling strawberry shampoo.

I'd called him Mr. Super-Nose in response.

One of his hands had been curled around the inside of my hip, and the other hand had been pressed firmly across my breasts. I'd called him on it when he "innocently" fondled me, and he'd told me he was simply protecting his new favorite assets.

_Men._

I'd woken up twenty minutes before his alarm was set, and our positions had been entirely different. I was flat on my back, my legs open wide. Edward had somehow managed to utterly disregard three quarters of the bed, instead preferring to take up residence on top of me.

He had shifted down the mattress, twisting the sheets around us, so his head was pillowed on the bare skin of my stomach, where my (well, his) t-shirt had ridden up. One of his hands was above his head and flat between my breasts, over my heartbeat. The other was curled under my left thigh, propping it up so it was over his shoulder.

That was encouraging, right? In his subconscious this man had made sure he was on top of me and that I was around him like wrapping paper.

As soon as I woke up, my hands, which had previously been buried under the pillow, came down to start playing with the bronze head of hair on my stomach. I curled the longer parts around my fingers, rubbed lightly at his scalp, ran my fingers through it from the front, so it smooth out, then from the back, so it stood on end.

I listened to Edward's even breathing as I worked, relishing that I could fulfill my fascination of touching his beautiful, unusual hair without him knowing about it. He probably thought I was enough of a crazy-woman as it was.

When it was a couple of minutes before his alarm was set to go off, I heard my phone faintly buzzing from the pocket of my sweater dress. As stealthily as possible, I tried to wheedle my way out from under Edward, but the more I struggled the heavier he seemed to become.

Finally the phone stopped ringing, but knowing he would have to wake up anyway, I whispered, "Edward?"

"Yes, love?" He answered immediately, his voice holding no traces of drowsiness. The bastard hadn't been asleep at all. He had just lain there, letting me first stroke his hair, then struggle with his weight.

"Time to get up, you faker." I told him, miffed.

Edward raised his head his head so his chin was resting on my stomach and smiled at me.

"Hardly that," he disagreed. "It's just that I could barely be bothered considering maybe to think about perhaps letting you know I was awake when you touched me like you just were, let alone putting theory into practice."

In the time it took me to process his convoluted sentence, he had already begun placing wet kisses over my stomach, his big hands rubbing the insides of my thighs _right _below the junction.

"Unnn." Was all I could say in response, which I'm fairly certain was his nefarious plan.

Edward's alarm went off, and for whatever unknown reason, he had picked _Foxtrot Uniform Charlie Kilo _by the Blood Hound Gang. So while he began lapping his tongue over my belly button like a cat drinking from a bowl of milk, and rubbing his hands over the insides of my thighs like a maid smoothing out expensive hotel sheets, we were listening to about forty different innuendos for sexual intercourse.

His tongue trailed up, pushing more of my t-shirt up, so that he was licking the skin between my breasts, no doubt feeling my heart hammering against my rib cage. His hips came out so they were on the outside of mine, giving him more balance and letting me feel his cock waking up against my stomach.

I growled when I heard my phone ringing again, but I couldn't form the willpower to push Edward off me. Somehow he managed to tickle me a little with the tip of his tongue, and I squirmed and automatically brought my hands up against his shoulders. Without raising his head, as he moved closer to my left nipple, Edward grabbed both my hands in his, twining our fingers together, and pinned them above my head.

I guess the whole; pushing-him-off-to-answer-the-phone plan would have been pointless then, anyways. I couldn't actually work up the motivation to care, because suddenly that delightful tongue that had been circling my nipple came right over it. He flicked the hard bud back and forth with the tip of his tongue, and I arched into his mouth. Edward moaned as he suckled on my offering, causing me to sigh at the wet suction and the vibration in his throat.

"Edward..." I sighed, struggling with his hands, which were still twined with mine. He allowed me to have one free, and he used his free hand to twist and tug at my right, neglected, nipple, while I plunged mine into his hair and started scratching my fingernails along his scalp.

Edward's hips squeezed around my waist in pleasure at my touch, and he started thrusting down onto my stomach for friction, already incredibly hard despite the two orgasms in the past eight hours.

Just when Edward was about to switch his services to my right breast, there was a polite wrap on the door.

"Edward, dear?" I heard Esme's amused voice filterer into the room, sounding as if she knew exactly what she was interrupting.

Edward groaned against my breasts, which I really wished he wouldn't, because it felt good no matter how unintentional it was.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, my mother, the cock-blocker." Edward muttered against my skin, reluctantly pushing himself up so he was kneeling over me.

"Yes, Mom?" Edward called, eyes fixed on the wet shine of my left breast and fire in his green eyes.

"I brought your overnight bags out of the car; I'll leave them just outside the door. Also, I got a call about your surprise for Bella and me – apparently the _deliveryman _didn't realize it was a secret, and told me it would be arriving in about ten minutes. "

"Figures." He rolled his eyes for my benefit, swinging his leg around so he was kneeling next to me, not over me. Louder, he called, "thank you, Mom. We'll change and come down before it gets here."

"Take your time, honey." Esme called back, "At least it's not the front seat of the Volvo."

I cracked up as we listened to Esme's retreating footsteps, but when Edward leant over and playfully pinched my nipple, I shut up pretty quickly.

"Cheater." I poked my tongue out at him like a five year old.

"Thanks for the invitation." And next second Edward was closing his mouth over my stuck out tongue.

I enjoyed his tongue wrapping around mine for a minute, but when I felt him automatically begin to roll on top of me I unenthusiastically pulled away.

"You, sir, are incorrigible." I teased him in a lofty voice, hand playing with his hair because he already knew how much I liked it, so why the hell not? "We have to get ready so I can make a passable impression on your mother."

Edward smiled warmly at me as he tugged me into a sitting position with him.

"That's because you, madam, are irresistible." He placed another one of those sweet, un-sexual, but makes-my-chest-feel-warm-and-fuzzy kisses on the tip of my nose. "And you'd make a wonderful _impression_ on anyone."

Ah. _That's _why the glib motherfucker is always better.

After Edward and I had both showered – separately, though there were a few jokes made about what happened in his shower this morning – I changed into a tight pair of light blue skinny jeans, a lavender colored silk camisole and a cream pair of flats.

Edward walked out of the bathroom, hair just shorting of dripping into the collar of his light blue shirt, took one look at the light camisole I was wearing and groaned.

"Sweetheart, can you grab a cardigan or something? I don't think I could handle sitting next to you all night looking like that." He sounded like such a put out child that I couldn't help but grab my white cardigan and throw it on.

"Better?" I asked, twirling in front of him.

Edward grabbed my arm to make me stop and tucked a hand into my back pocket as he led us out the door. The possessive gestures, and the way he had said "mine" after the porn before, was starting to make me light headed with lust.

"Actually no. Now you just look even more innocent, which oddly enough makes me want to violate the hell out of you." Edward admitted sheepishly, as he led me down the stairs.

I was rolling my eyes so much I feared a permanent injury. "Yeah well, maybe I'll buy some knee-highs and a riding crop to sully my image."

As we walked towards the kitchen, Edward squeezed me firmly through my back pocket, pulling me further into his side so he could place a dangerous kiss just below my ear.

"Angel," he whispered to me, pushing the door of the kitchen open, "if you bought a riding crop, _I'd _be the one wielding it."

Note to self: buy riding crop ASAP.

I was distracted from my musings when I saw that Edward's surprise was waiting inside the kitchen. The room was full of people, and before my mind could catch up with my mouth, I was asking loudly, "what in the _shit _are you guys doing here?!"

Emmett, Jasper, Rosalie and Alice were standing around, grinning at me like maniacs. Emmett had one giant arm around Esme, smothering the poor woman, Jasper was pouring wine for everyone, Alice was wearing an apron and removing a lasagna from the oven like she owned the place, and Rosalie was setting the kitchen table.

"Language, young lady." Esme scolded me, and I would have thought she was serious if it weren't for the amused look on her face.

Emmett snickered as I broke away from Edward and attacked Jasper, who was closest, with a hug.

"Please, Ma," Emmett said, "as if you wouldn't have sworn like a sailor if the pilot hadn't have called the house with our landing time."

Apparently Edward wasn't happy with the length of Jasper's hug, because he cleared his throat pointedly, causing both Jasper and I to simultaneously snort, as we broke apart.

"Yeah, Edward, I'm about to throw down your girl on the kitchen table and screw her in front of my mother and girlfriend." Jasper snorted again.

"Language, young man!" Esme scolded Jasper, a lot more seriously then she had me, as Alice and I gave each other pointed looks.

"Girlfriend?" I asked her.

"His girl?" Alice shot back. I had called the girls before I got on the plane to tell them that I may have been completely wrong about Edward. It only took a very serious but short look between the three of us for them to understand that I had been _utterly _wrong about him. Which was lucky, because the second Edward had walked into the room, Rose had been staring daggers at him while clutching a butter knife. And while most people couldn't do must damage with a blunt knife, Rosalie Hale was another matter.

Edward smirked at me as he accepted a glass off Jasper. "My girl, I like the sound of that, Angel."

I ignored him as I hugged Emmett, who didn't let go of Esme, so it turned into a nice three-way tangle of arms. I could smell wine on both of them, and when I turned around Edward was holding a glass of red out to me.

"Here you go. I think we have some catching up to do, love." He gave me another tip-of-the-nose kiss.

Esme let out a squeal and then clamped her hand over her mouth when Edward finished speaking, while Emmett and Jasper were looking shocked but pleased.

Having no idea what they were on, I smiled up at Edward.

"Bottoms up, then." I gave him a quick peck, pulling away when he tried to deepen the kiss, because, really, his mother was two feet away staring wide-eyed at us, and his brothers teased me enough, thank you very much.

We sat down to eat, Esme at the head of the table, Edward, me and Jasper on one side, and Rose, Emmett and Alice on the other. The Cullen's began what was a light, calm conversation about how the business was progressing, while the three of us stared at Emmett, dumbfounded to hear him talking about the wide spread ramifications of the economic downturn and how his department was combating the problem.

Throughout their entire conversation, Edward was paying attention to me somehow, whether it was to continue to top up my glass, or firmly give me some vegetables when I only took Lasagna, or whether it was his hand on the back of my neck, rubbing me gently.

But I don't think the Cullen's were quite prepared for Rosalie, Alice and I at a family dinner. We let them get in about ten minutes of work related talk, before Alice steered the conversation away with the skill of a master. Then, though I couldn't for the life of me work out how, we managed to get into an argument about whether Rose from _Titanic_ could have shared the door she was floating on, once the ship had sunk, with Jack. We were shouting over each other, reiterating the same points we had made the last hundred times the topic had come up.

The Cullen's were staring between the three of us (Alice was on her feet, though she was so small it hardly made a difference, I was fisting the sleeve of Edward's shirt in irritation, and Rose was actually shaking her fist) as we screeched over each other. Then to my eternal shock, Edward suddenly jumped into the debate, _against me _no less, speaking just as loudly as us and emphasizing his arguments by waving his finger around and squeezing my shoulders.

After Edward, it wasn't long before Emmett, Jasper and Esme joined in too, and then were just seven crazies yelling over each other, and nobody was quite listening to anyone else, and it was only when we'd been sitting there for ages that we realized everyone but Rose (who had chosen not to have any wine with her meal), was drunk as skunks.

"Alright!" Esme's voice rang louder then all of ours, breaking up the random arguments. "I'm going to bed!"

There was an immediate outbreak of rather ineloquent outrage, but she waved us all away as she swayed away from the table. "Leave the dishes, Roberta will get them in the morning."

She paused at the door, turned pointedly to Emmett, and for apparently no reason whatsoever, smacked him across the head.

"Fuck, Ma! What the hell was that for?" Emmett rubbed his head with the hand that wasn't clasped in Rose's and scowled huffily at his mother.

With the dignity that only a drunk person could muster, Esme said, "For _whatever_ trouble you end up in before you get to sleep. I know you, oh son o' mine."

We all laughed hysterically, except Edward, who was apparently a _really _friendly drunk, and who was too busy licking, sucking, and occasionally biting my collarbone while he purred in utter contentment. He had taken off my cardigan about ten minutes into dinner, and had been satisfied with placing the occasional kiss on my neck, until the wine had tipped him towards drunk, and then he had forgotten to involve himself in the argument and had focused all his attentions on my skin.

"Well," Emmett was grinning wickedly at us all as Jasper unsteadily poured everyone _another _glass of wine. "I'd hate to disappoint my darling mother."

By now, I had drunk enough that I pushed my chest up pointedly, wanting Edward to lower his attentions.

"Good girl," Edward growled against my skin, before he went back to work over the tops of my breasts. One of his hands was drawing circles on my thigh and the other was fisting my hair so it wasn't interfering in his ministrations.

"What did you have in mind, my Simian friend?" Alice asked him, practically bouncing in Jasper's lap (though I couldn't remember her moving there) in the excitement of getting into trouble.

"Port Angeles." Emmett said dramatically, as if this should explain everything to us.

Jasper bumped fists with him, which was all the brotherly approval Emmett was going to get, because I don't think a fire breaking out on the table could draw Edward away from my chest.

"Port what?" Rose asked, shooting Emmett a tolerantly affectionate look that I would never have imagined Rose giving _any _man, let alone someone she had once decided was a "_billionaire daddy's boy waiting to get in her pants_".

"Port Angeles," Jasper chimed in, sloshing wine everywhere as he redistributed everyone's glasses. "It's about an hour from here and it's a bigger town, so there are someone averagely decent clubs and bars there for the tourists."

Rose, Alice and I took one look at each other; then Alice and I put down our fresh glasses, and all three of us screamed in unison, "CLUB CRAWL!"

Apparently the object of his affections screaming her head off was enough to get Edward to look up. He removed his head from my chest, blinking owlishly at all of us as if he had just realized we were there. Apparently he thought he was alone with my boobs, which I'm pretty certain he liked more then me at this point. The porn incident was evidently going to be burnt in his brain for a while.

His lips were wet, his hair was flattened at the front where it had been pressing against me, his eyes were glazed, and I really wanted to be in a dark, sweaty club pressed up against him.

"A club what?" Edward asked us, eyes already veering back to my chest as if drawn by a magnet.

"Club crawl, Goober." Rose said. I shared a private, affectionate smile with Emmett at Rose having picked up his favorite nickname for me. "It's where you hit up all the clubs in one area until you find a good one."

Emmett whooped and Jasper sculled his wine in enthusiasm, but Edward didn't look sold on the idea. Actually, he looked like he wanted nothing more then to spend the rest of the evening buried in my chest. I had no problem with that, except that I wanted to dirty dance with his gorgeous ass, so I whispered in his ear, "and then I get to spend all night rubbing against you."

A devilishly handsome crooked smile lit up his face, and then he was practically as bouncy as Alice.

"When do we leave?" he asked, looking between Rose and Emmett opposite us like they were his parents telling him we were going to Disneyland. I decided then and there that we needed to keep him permanently drunk, because he was hilarious.

"You're incorrigible." I reminded him, while everyone laughed at his uncharacteristic enthusiasm.

Edward turned his excited smile on me.

"Only because you're fucking irresistible, remember?"

**

* * *

This seemed like a natural place to end the chapter, before it got ridiculously long.**

**How cute is drunk Edward?**

**Is everyone happy with a renewed amount of R/E, A/J?**

**And I had to go the dirty dancing route, cause really, no good fanfic is complete without them.**

**Reviews and you get some Edward grinding, dirty dancing action!**


	21. Green Eyed Monster

**Sorry haven't been able to update the last two days, school and work have been hectic. Just for the next three weeks (until school ends then) I probably won't be updating on those two days. Again, still better then most, so be nice please!**

**Meanwhile, your reviews are seriously my exact brand of heroin, so thank you!**

**But, um, the person who wrote this:**

"Okay Learnt is not a word...it is learned! Everything in past tense is ed, not a t...just thought Id let you know, spell check is an amazing thing"

**Yeah. I'm Australian, so I kinda tend to follow the Queen's English. Learnt was a word before "learned" even existed. Just thought I'd let you know.**

**That being said, if I make an actual spelling mistake, please feel free to PM me. Sometimes proof reading your own stuff means you can miss things. Just be nice about it please, I'm a Cancer so I tend to be overly sensitive :(**

**As the above rant obviously tipped you off to!**

**Reviews=update.**

**

* * *

BPOV.**

After we had all agreed to go on the FCC09' (Fork's Club Crawl 2009, as Emmett had named it) the girls and I had changed into our best Man Eater dresses. I hadn't brought any kind of club appropriate clothing when I packed for Forks, but Alice, who liked to think she knew everything, had packed one for me with the _three_ suitcases she'd brought for her one night away.

My dress was a silver Carolina Herrera strapless mini that was like wearing a napkin. When we girls had come downstairs, the guys had been sprawled in the lounge room on a couch each, downing shots of some obscurely expensive Russian Vodka and sucking on spoons of peanut butter.

From what we could decipher of their very boisterous explanation; this was one of several odd-drinking combinations they had picked up in University (we _think_ – when Alice had asked them what was with the peanut butter before we went upstairs all three of them had started shouting animatedly, waving spoons and arms around, talking over one another).

Edward had literally choked around his spoon when he spotted me, and had immediately stumbled to his feet. "Oh God," he had groaned as he gathered me into his unsteady arms, "I love..." he muffled his last words into my hair, which had been newly given that I've-Just-Been-Fucked look.

"You love what?" I had asked, confounded because of the way his hands were massaging my shoulders so expertly.

"How you look. I, ah, _really_ love how you look."

Rosalie had driven Esme's Jeep to Port Angles, screeching almost the entire time. She kept telling Emmett off for feeling up her thigh. Then telling Alice and Jasper off for singing Radiohead loudly in the middle seat. _Then_ telling Edward off in the back, for having his head buried, once again, between my breasts. I would have told her she was being unfair, but by then Edward had gotten rather _vocal_ in his exclamations of pleasure. She didn't enjoy the sound of Edward moaning and sighing in gratification quite as much as I did, so it was understandable.

The Cullen brothers were apparently rather well known in the area, which made sense, as I doubted there were many billionaires running around in rainy, small-town Forks or Port Angeles. We went through two bars and one club before we settled on what they guys had deemed their "childhood playground", Alumbra. It was exactly what I had envisioned when I thought about Edward and I dancing against each other. Dark, crowded, smoke machines, music so loud I could feel the beat in my bones, a VIP area with a low series of couches that the all of us could sit on together.

With the group sprawled in various couples over the couches, with Edward on top of me, all of us drinking away, it should have been the perfect night.

But it wasn't. I was currently murderously angry.

I was the person whose face you took one look at before running, screaming, blubbering incoherently and peeing yourself, in the other direction.

I was the person they'd call if they need someone to fight the Hulk in an ultimate death match. I'd own that green motherfucker right now.

And the object of my anger was completely oblivious.

He was sitting there, smiling serenely like he had never been happier in his entire life. Of course, I could only presume he was smiling, as with him nestled between my legs, his head against my chest, his back pressed between my thighs, I was unable to see his expression.

The minute we had walked into Alumbra, an old Cullen family friend had accosted us by rather deftly jumping on Edward. His arm was around my neck at the time, but he had to unceremoniously release me to keep from falling over.

"Um. Hello?" he asked her uncertainly, not having seen her face before she executed her jump in her six-inch heels. My eyes had automatically narrowed, with Alice and Rose's following in pure loyalty.

"Eddie!" she screamed, as he winced while trying to extract himself from her grip, hating the nickname. "Let's go get a spot in the VIP lounge and catch up, it's Tanya!"

Tanya. The same Tanya that Emmett and Jasper had told me about when describing Edward's sexual predilections while in the VIP area of another club. The Tanya that Edward had lost his virginity to at the tender age of fourteen. Apparently they had decided to skip an excursion to the local history museum for a fumble in his bedroom.

Probably in his Batman sheets.

I hated her on principal just for that, not to mention the fact that she was outrageously sexy. She also ignored everyone's presence as she focused her predatory attentions on Edward, except to give me a glare when I was introduced as "my Angel, Bella."

We sat down on the low white couches, Edward smoothly sliding in between my legs, his hands tugging insistently on my arms until I complied and put them around him. I didn't put up much of a fight, and even if I had, the way he sighed blissfully and muttered a "perfect" at my hold would have made it worth it.

Through our first few rounds of drinks, Emmett, Rosalie, Jasper and Alice all tried in vain to get Tanya to stop slobbering all over Edward's shoes, but when she continued to simper and drag him down memory lane, while casually reach over to touch his arm or chest, I found a level of hatred beyond which I'd ever felt.

The freaking bitch was totally the Captain Hook to my Peter Pan.

The Sherriff of Nottingham to my Robin Hood.

The Megatron to my Optimus Prime.

Edward continually tried to steer the conversation back to a topic I could become involved with, often twisting in my lap to look at me and smile, or rubbing his head back against my chest, or placing intimate kisses on my knuckles as he listened to Tanya blabbering.

But Tanya knew what she was doing. She would bring up a "oh, and that time in the back seat of your car at Tyler's sixteenth..." and Edward, in his easily distracted drunken state, would get caught up in the conversation. Leaving me feeling like a third wheel while Tanya smirked maliciously at me.

I could have handled it, but when she reached over to run her fingers through Edward's hair ("look how long it is, you look so sexy!"), I went nuclear.

The. Hair. Was. _Mine_. Bitch.

So, in all my inebriated wisdom, I came up with the universally recommended plan for getting your boyfriends attention in a nightclub. I shot Alice and Rose looks, and they easily translated the determination in my eyes, and indicated their approval of the plan with vicious glares at Tanya.

But, when I tried to implement subsequently mentioned plan, by wriggling to get out from under Edward, he abruptly stopped talking, tensing his muscles and becoming deadweight on top of me.

"You okay, Sweetheart? Where are you going?" he asked, turning to look at me with concerned, but glazed eyes.

I would have used the "getting a drink" excuse, but we had a private waiter, so that was out the door. I didn't want to have to mention a need to use the bathroom in front of sophisticated Tanya, but luckily Rose saved me.

"Us girls are gonna dance," she stood up, holding her hands out to me and Alice and giving Tanya the _please, bitch, we are so totally onto you_ look. Tanya gave her a blank _I have no idea what you're talking about...bitch_ look in return.

Edward frowned, struggling into a sitting position against me. Jasper and Emmett were watching Rose, Tanya, Edward and I with rapt attention while Alice quickly reached up to take Rose's hand.

"Then I'll go w-" he started, but Tanya reached around a placed a finger over his lips. _My lips_.

"Eddie, I haven't seen you since High School!" she pouted. "Let the girls dance and talk to _me_!"

Before Edward could even open his mouth to respond Rose had deftly pulled me up from under Alice. Actually, she used frightening strength, considering Edward was still holding onto me tightly.

"See she doesn't mind." Tanya cooed to Edward, the minute I was up.

Disgusted, pissed off, and unable to watch anymore, I let Rose tug me up and then down the stairs to the main area of the club before Edward had even responded.

We were swallowed by the crowd as soon as we hit the bottom step, and then I was tugged into the corridor outside the bathrooms, where we began airing our indignations loudly.

"She TOUCHED his fucking hair!"

"If anyone flirted with Emmett like that in front of me I'd gut the cow!"

"Did you _see _the cut of her dress? I mean, can you say off the rack?!"

We spent several more minutes airing our discontent over the Tanya situation and then I relayed my plan to them, glad that they approved straight away.

I elbowed my way to the bar, alone, having left Rose and Alice to actually use the bathroom, scouring the area until I found a suitable candidate. There was an attractive and tall guy who was setting down an empty glass on the end of the bar, scanning the crowd confidently. In fact, he looked like a guy who was too confident to be a problem.

Perfect.

I headed over there, looking back and noticing that I was too short to see the VIP area, but that tall bar guy wouldn't be. I sidled up to him and put a hand flat on his chest to get his attention.

"Hi there. Look left over the crowd, into the VIP area. You see that guy lying down on the couch over there talking to the chick with the red hair?" Totally dyed, though I didn't think the piece of man-meat in front of me would care about that piece of information.

He glanced up from the bar; taking in Tanya and all her freakin' glory, and then glanced down at me, giving me the TA (tits/ass) once over.

"You're way more fuckable then her," he told me diplomatically, probably because Tanya was all the way over in the VIP area and I was sitting there with my hand on his chest. "And your boyfriend's an idiot."

The worst part of that? That I didn't even know whether Edward _wanted_ to be classified as my boyfriend, while he was busy catching up with the girl he's lost his bloody virginity to.

Tall guy had totally seen where this was heading, because he grabbed me swiftly around the waist and club-whispered in my ear, "you wanna make him jealous?"

"You're a mind reader!" I squealed at him, grabbing his hand and leading him to the dance floor. A perfect, dance-with-a-stranger-to-make-get-you-boyfriends-attention song was playing as I led him to a strategic spot where there would be a perfect view from the VIP area.

_I got two pale hands up against the window pane _

_I'm shaking with the heat of my need again_

Tall guy pulled me up against him, so we were chest to chest. He slid a leg between mine and used hands on my hips to pull me as close as possible, so he was straddling my leg and I was straddling his. Then he started swaying us to the beat.

_It starts in my feet, reverbs up to my brain _

_There's nothing I can do to revert the gain_

_ I'm looking down to the street below_

His face buried in my neck and I estimated it would be under half a minute before Edward came. To speed things along, because the only one I wanted to be dancing with was Edward, I reached up and wrapped my arms around his neck, so I could push myself into tall guy, too. Normally I would never be so forward with a random, but the alcohol and the serious jealousy, and the weird, biological need to mark my territory were fuelling the fire. Or more importantly to be marked _as _Edward's territory.

_Standing by the stereo I'm feeling so alone _

_My back against a speaker and I'm moving on my own _

_Surrounded by so many and they're staring at my face _

_They're picking up my problem_

_I'm totally addicted to bass_

Now I was starting to get annoyed. Where the hell was Edward? The song playing was coming to an end, and I still couldn't see him anywhere in sight.

Then I felt another pair of arms wrap around my waist from the other side, pulling me back and simultaneously building a barrier between my dancing partner and myself.

Finally.

"I think that's about enough of that, don't you?" I heard his velvet voice in my ear, as his hands moved expertly over my hips, easily pushing aside tall guys.

"Sure." Tall guy threw me a very provocative wink as he backed away. I knew he was playing it up for Edward, "thanks for the, ah – enthusiastic – dancing, baby."

"_Enthusiastic dancing_?" Edward muttered, sounding livid.

I tried to turn so I could kiss him, or ask where charming Tanya was, but his arms tightened on me, and this time there was no Rose to pull me aside.

"Well now I'll enthusiastically dance with you..." I told him in a light voice, popping my ass back against him in a Rosalie Patented move. "Unless you need to go back to chat with Tanya?"

"I would have come with you if you'd simply waited." Edward said, snorting in amusement before he started to move us in time to the slow, sensual song that was playing now. Perhaps he would have, but how was I _possibly _supposed to think clearly when a woman who had had _sex_ with him when I never had was all over him?

_I lose all control _

_When you grab a hold _

_And you do your trick_

His hands were travelling all over my body without really touching any place I particularly wanted them. His fingers just skimmed the outside of my breasts, barely grazed the inside of my thighs, and pushed my neck to the side so he could begin kissing my collarbone like he had at dinner.

_Your every touch excites me _

_And damnit I aint too proud to beg _

_And even when you're not around me_

_ The tingling just won't go away _

_Don't make my body wait no longer_

I started to move my hips from left to right as Edward moved his continuously forward against my ass. He was so hard that we both shuddered and he leant down to whisper my name reverently in my ear.

_It feels so good I'm going crazy_

_ My eyes roll back inside my head _

_Explore my inner warmth's of pleasure _

_And hold on tight_

The wall of bodies around us seemed to have us cocooned in our own world, but there was still the risqué factor when Edward abruptly cupped my breasts completely in his hands, and began pumping furiously against me.

I let out a strangled moan, and it seemed to unleash something in him. Abruptly he pulled away from me, grabbing a hold of my upper arm and pulling me through the crowd. When a man tried to pull me into a dance, Edward silky twirled me around his body so that he was blocking me.

I didn't know how he knew where he was going, but he led me down a few dark passages until we were in what was surely an out-of-bounds corridor. There was no one around, and nothing but what looked like a storage cupboard at the end of the hall. He let go of my arm once I was against the wall, leaning over me, his arms forming a cage around me. He buried his face in his arm as if he was trying to control himself.

"Bring all your girls here?" I asked him breathlessly, barely resisting the urge to tug on his belt loops to pull him closer. But I didn't want control, it needed to be him.

"What girls?" Edward muttered into his arm. "You're my girl."

"Sure, _Eddie_." I bit out, before I could stop myself.

His head popped up incredulously, but before I could see anymore Edward spun me around and pulled me back into his chest, the erection that I had felt probing against me before still more then present.

"Bella, I want you to put your hands on the wall please."

_Fuck me_. He was using the polite tone again. I shakily raised my hands so I was bracing myself against the wall in front of me, which proved necessary a second later when Edward manipulated my body so I was bent slightly at the waist. Then he leant in so his chest was pressed to my back.

"Is that why you left? Did you _really _think I wanted Tanya over you?" he snarled in my ear. I thought he would be pleased, maybe even a little smug that I was jealous. Instead, he sounded furious. Well, no one said this boy was predictable.

"Well you didn't stop her when she was all over you before." I couldn't help but say, even though when I was in my right mind tomorrow I'd regret showing him how envious I felt over him.

"Yes, but didn't you notice how _I _was all over you?" he asked me softly. Then Edward's hand snaked down from holding me around the waist until it was firmly cupping me between the legs. At the same time, he bent his knees so his hardness was nestled against my ass. He started rolling his hips into me while just unashamedly rubbing the shit out of everything between my legs.

I moaned, fingers digging into the wall, and when Edward heard he leant in so his mouth was against my cheek. He took a second to place open-mouthed kisses on me as he thrust and rubbed.

"You really have no idea how much I want you, do you? No idea how _long_ I've wanted you?" he finally said, rubbing so hard that I couldn't help but push down on his hand.

"What the hell are you talking about?" I asked him, taking one hand from the wall so I could grab onto those belt loops that were bothering me so much.

We were breathing hard, but when I used his belt as leverage to pull him in harder to me, we held our breath, letting it out in shuddering gasps. Edward's movements sped up minutely once he was closer.

"I had a girlfriend when you first came to work for me. Did you know that?"

The pretence was gone now. When we were on the dance floor we were just two amongst the masses, lost in the crowd, moving against each other to the music. Now there was nothing, the beat of the music was faint, and our rhythm, the one he was creating so skillfully, in no way corresponded.

"Vaguely." I admitted. I had actually been pretty certain, considering at the time I was his Third Assistant and spent half my time booking restaurants and picking up jewelry.

Edward pushed my legs further apart, though that meant he was unable to get as much stimulation. His hand stopped rubbing me, and instead he began running his fingers up and down my slit, stopping to thumb my clit on each pass.

"She broke up with me; a few weeks after I met you. No one's every broken up with me before. Would you like to know the catalyst behind her doing so, Angel?"

That I did. I couldn't imagine anyone who could physically walk away from this man once they had him. But I was struggling to nod when Edward was biting my neck and focusing his touch so wonderfully. When I finally did, he seemed to have to drag his mouth back up my neck to my ear.

"All I could think about was you." His thumb began only focusing on my clit through my soaked g-string, while his fingers pumped and rubbed over my hole.

"She touched me, and I imagined it was you. I took her, and in my head, I was taking you...over and over." His voice was harsh, like he was confessing his greatest weakness.

"I started dreaming about you. How you'd look while I fucked you. What you were wearing underneath all those cute little outfits at work. How you'd gasp innocently when I spread you out on my desk..." he groaned at the idea and his head dropped to my shoulder as he worked.

"Oh God..." my breath caught, because hearing him saying those things...had we really wasted so long? How senseless.

His free hand came up to the top of my strapless dress, plunging down the front so he was cupping and massaging my breasts, switching between the two. The added stimulation had my head falling forwards against the wall. I could feel the now familiar, wonderful tension building in my stomach, and my legs were becoming weak.

"I was saying your name in my sleep. Every fucking night. I screamed you name when I came...and I didn't even know it until she told me."

He dropped to his knees and shoved his face up between my legs, and I could feel his nose skimming me, like he was taking in my scent. It was the most animal, sexual, possessive thing he had done to me, and I felt a bubble of pride building in me. This man was mine, and he was claiming me as his. It didn't matter if he didn't want to call himself my boyfriend, as long I was his.

"I _can't _want anyone but you, do you understand that?" I heard him murmur, before I felt his tongue pressing up against me. His thumb continued to rub at my clit, though I couldn't comprehend the logistics of such a move.

"Please..._fuck_..." his tongue, which was so pointed I could feel it directly against my opening as he twisted and worked it into me. When I begged, he pulled back so he could whisper the words that would easily be my undoing.

"That's right. You cum for me. Cum for me like I only cum for you."

When his tongue stabbed back and his thumbnail pressed down almost painfully, my muscles clenched and my legs crumpled. Edward wrapped his arms around me, holding me steady while I panted out my orgasm and his tongue lapped at the insides of thighs.

I heard him making happy little "Mmm" sounds as he worked, and then I couldn't help it. I didn't even think about.

I moaned, "God, I love you Edward."

And felt him freeze below me.

**

* * *

So, yeah, I love dirty dancing with the Bf. Probably will now be thinking about Hotward when I do it. Ah well, our little secret!**

**Bella may have seemed a little confused in her decision making process here, but she was _really_ piss drunk. I don't know how many of you have ever been drunk, but logical thinking is rare.**


	22. Morning After

**Ha, how funny is it that so many of us have had similar drunken reactions?!**

**Now, please, a little more faith in my Eddie, he's not going to turn into an ass for no good reason!**

**And yes, I promise there WILL be a great amount of sexing coming up VERY soon. Can anyone say reverse cowboy + a mirror?! Hotness.**

**170 reviews=update. **

**

* * *

EPOV.**

"_God, I love you Edward."_

I replayed her words over and over in my head, the epitome of a broken record. I hardly regretted falling to my knees to pleasure her (and by default myself), but I would always regret that I hadn't seen her face as she uttered that wonderful phrase to me.

I had felt every muscle in my body tense when those words escaped her perfect mouth. The joy had been so overwhelming that for a second I couldn't breathe, I couldn't think, I could do nothing but feel my heart stuttering in my chest.

Once I was capable of moving past the crushing joy, I had every intention of jumping to my feet and confessing that not only had I wanted her – to the _nth_ degree – from the moment I set eyes on her, but that I had fallen in love with her almost just as quickly, that I had known, irrevocably, that I would never be happy loving anyone but her, marrying anyone but her, having anyone but here bear my children.

Bella let out a trembling laugh and slid down the wall in front of my frozen form. She ran a shaky hand through her hair as I knelt in a position of pure supplication in front of her. I had never been more _hers_ then in that moment, had she but known it.

Her expression was probably as glazed as mine was, due to the copious amounts of alcohol we had both consumed in the last few hours. Not to mention the orgasm I'd just given her, I thought smugly.

I reached out to press my thumbs over her delicate collar bones, ready to confess my undying, immortal, fucking _epic _love for this woman, when reality came crashing abruptly in.

"Ha, I'm _so _drunk." Bella laughed, almost nervously, not looking me in the eye as she patted down her hair. "I totally blame Jazz, he's a complete enabler."

My head fell against her shoulder, bringing me closer to her addictive scent, as I felt a painful tightening in my chest. This one was the crushing of hope.

Of course she was drunk. I had sat by and let Jasper pour drinks down hers, not to mention everyone else's, throats all night. And besides that, how could I take a confession of love given during an_orgasm _seriously? How many times had I laughed about friends in High School or College blurting out something they didn't mean in the heat of the moment? I no longer felt smug, that was for damn certain.

"I'm in about the same condition." I admitted, still unable to look up from her neck. I wrapped my arms around her shoulders and drew her into my chest, wanting to reassure myself of at least her physical presence. She melted into me, presenting no resistance whatsoever, fitting perfectly, like I had always known she would.

The rightness of it killed me. Should I just admit I loved her, and damn the consequences come morning? Would she take my declaration seriously when she had just told me she loved me, but that she was completely drunk?

Bella unwittingly answered my silent questions for me.

"I'm not going to remember a _thing_ tomorrow morning," she laughed, muffled against my shirt, "so you'll have to remind me I owe you one for the fantasticness of what you just did."

"I'll start a tab," I promised her in my lightest voice, taking a fortifying breath of her scent as I leaned back.

Bella leaned forward before I could get even a small look into her eyes in the darkened hallway, and waited until my top lip was between hers before she muttered, "and I'll be sure to pay up...with_interest_."

She sucked my lip into her mouth, ghosting her tongue over it in a move so sensual it made my head spin. I felt – _wrong _– for the dirty thoughts that immediately swirled through my head, considering I felt _so_ much more for her then these carnal needs. But when her teeth bit down on my sensitive lip, almost angrily, I couldn't help the growl that rumbled up from my chest, or the way I pushed myself into her body, or the way I smoothly tilted her head so I could invade her mouth with my tongue.

Bella let me dominate the kiss for about ten seconds before she roughly grabbed two fistfuls of my hair and yanked my head to the left, pushing her tongue over mine so that she was exploring my mouth instead.

I moaned into her mouth, wanting her, _loving _her so badly, while simultaneously realizing how angry her kiss felt. It was still the most passionate, amazing thing, just like always, but I could feel the change in her demeanor compared to our previous kisses.

"Bella," I gasped, as I pulled away from her so we could catch our breath. I nudged her jaw up with my nose, intent on focusing my attentions on her swan-like neck while she gasped for air, but she stopped me. Her hands pulled on my hair again, making my eyes roll, and then she was kissing my neck instead.

No, okay, in all honesty, she was _attacking_ my neck, sucking and nipping at my skin like she wanted to drink my fucking blood. My cock was so painfully hard now that I was surprised I wasn't popping a button on my jeans. If the material hadn't been so thick there would be a damp patch of pre-cum on them. I tried to think, tried to connect her anger with her motivations, but then her mouth was searing mine again and I was lost.

We would have been there, kneeling in front of each other, forever, if my phone hadn't vibrated in my jeans pocket. _And I really didn't need the vibrating right now_...

I broke away from Bella, answering my phone. The blaring music indicated that it was one of the others, even before I heard Emmett's booming voice.

"Climb off Bella, little bro! Tanya was annoying the rest of us so we're heading home!"

Emmett piggybacked Bella back to the car, and Alice curled up against her in the back on the drive home. By then I had sobered up almost completely and was grateful for the physical distance from Bella (or as glad as I could ever be when I wasn't touching her), as it brought me a little clarity of thought.

Bella obviously had no clue as to the depth of my feelings for her.

How could she possibly think I wanted Tanya over her?

_Anyone _over her? I had spent the last months willing to sell my soul if I could just get over my fixation on her, and nothing I did worked, no amount of distance I strove to keep, no amount of hostility I presented towards her. When I had kissed her that first time, I had been giving in, giving up, admitting that my soul didn't belong to me anyway; it was hers.

When we had sat down tonight I had been so content purely because I was with Bella, warm within her fragile arms. Who cares if Tanya, a girl I hadn't thought about in years, was talking at me; I could have been listening to _Stuart Little _yammering in my ear and I would have been perfectly happy in my Bella's embrace.

Seeing her dancing with some stranger, seeing someone _else_'s hands on her hips, her little waist, had made me realize that I would never be able to let her go. I had joked about it with myself before, but the reality had really presented itself right then. It was almost freeing.

I would never let her go. This was it for me.

I watched her as she closed her eyes and ran her hands through Alice's hair in the back seat of the Jeep, so like a mother comforting her child.

From now on, I'd be doing this right. No more mistakes. I would hint tomorrow to see if she was comfortable officially becoming my girlfriend. I knew she liked me, that she trusted me now that we were past these last few days, that she was attracted to me. I would use everything I could to my advantage. I would worship her body until she was weeping my fucking name.

By the time we got home, Alice, Bella, and Jasper (who had drunk more then all of us combined) were mostly asleep. It took Emmett and me to get Jasper up to bed, with Rose laughing at how ridiculous we looked with my middle brother sprawled over us. Alice was easily disposed of by Emmett, and soon it was just Bella, blinking sleepily as I cradled her in my arms.

"Should I return the favor now?" Bella asked, grinning up at me as I shouldered open the door to my bedroom. I rolled my eyes, because really, she was so drunk she couldn't stand on her own two feet, and she wanted to return a favor she didn't actually owe me? It had been just as much my pleasure as it had been hers.

"Let's just get you to bed, lo-" I caught myself, no longer wanting to call her "love" until she realized it was true and not just some insignificant pet name. I flicked on the bedside lamp, and then turned down the bed with Bella still in my arms, a wry smile on my lips as I realized this was the second time in as many nights I had put Bella in _my _bed without joining her.

Bella's arms wrapped around my neck as I tried to get her to lie down, and she began peppering light kisses on my face and neck – still with an amount of vicious nipping (that I'm ashamed to say turned me on something fierce).

"You're joining me, right Mr. Cullen?" _Fuck_. _Don't call me that_. My self-control around her was tenuous at the best of times, let alone now, when my Angel was trying to pull me down on top of her on my bed.

"Angel, I don't think that's a very good idea." There was _no _way I could climb in that bed with her right now. If I did she'd only be innocent for another two, maybe three minutes.

She dropped her arms from around my neck, pouting at me adorably and then rolling her eyes at my refusal. "You're _no_ fun..." she teased.

I moved down her body and removed her heels, then pulled the blanket up around her neck. I would have removed her dress, but I didn't have enough control right this second. Touching her bare skin would be far too much.

"I'll be right back, Bella." I told her, though she was obliviously chewing on her bottom lip, having disappeared into her own thoughts.

I got two aspirin and a glass of water from my bathroom, as a pre-emptive strike against the killer hangover she'd have tomorrow.

When I got back, though I hadn't been gone that long, she had managed to kick the sheets down to her feet, and she had removed her dress, so she was lying flat on her back in nothing but her g-string. I paused at the bathroom, the glass held tight in my hand, as lust shot through me in renewed force.

"The dress was uncomfortable." Bella mumbled, sensing I was there. "Now are you just gonna stand there staring at me?"

I cleared my throat, and forced myself to walk calmly until I was sitting on the edge of the bed. Bella rolled onto her side to consider me, her breasts squeezing together deliciously, reminding me of how it looked to have my cock nestled between them.

_Stop thinking about it, Edward_, I told myself for the thousandth time since this afternoon. It was bad enough that I had spent all night with my tongue running over her fantastic tasting skin; Bella probably thought I was a Neanderthal.

"Bella can you take these, please, darling? They'll help you with the headache tomorrow." I held the pills out to her while she scrutinized my face in the light of the lamp.

Finally she moved forward and touched her tongue flat to my palm, scooping up the pills. I shuddered in desire at the feeling of her wet tongue, even as I cursed myself for being such a fucking brute. She took a sip of the water I held to her lips.

"Mmm, you taste good." She purred at me, and that was my cue to jump to my feet before I jumped on her.

As I pulled the covers back up, I tortured myself with a glance at the scrap of lace between her legs, irrationally jealous because it was cupping her so intimately.

"Nite' Edward," she slurred sweetly, as I made my way to the door.

"Good night, Angel."

_I love you._

**

* * *

BPOV.**

The minute I rolled over and opened my eyes, it felt like someone was stabbing me in the fucking brain. I closed them against the painful beating, and after a minute it subsided and I was able to carefully peel my eyelids open again.

I was on my side in Edward's bed; facing the bedside table where a digital clock was brightly informing me it was 11:45am. Holy fucking shit. Our flight home left in three hours.

Even as the panic of being late for the plane, and the embarrassment of sleeping so late, set in, a worse, far more horrifying memory invaded. It was one of those memories so embarrassing, so mortifying, that it actually had a physical effect on me in the present.

My heart started beating faster, my headed pounded anew, and I could feel my entire body becoming quickly infused with a humiliated blush.

_God, I love you Edward_.

I had really said that. While he was freaking licking my thighs, after just having gotten me off in some dark and dank corridor. What the hell was wrong with me?

Edward had only kissed me a little while ago, and I was declaring my freakin' love for the guy? Why don't I just show up at his house with a love fern and a manipulation of what our children would look like, a la' "_How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days_"?!

Thank God I had at least managed to somewhat salvage everything by using the time honored _I-have-no-idea-what-I'm-saying-cause-I'm-wasted_ excuse, plus a dash of, _I-probably-won't-remember-this-in-the-morning_ to escape further embarrassment.

But really, I had to bottle that shit up. Just keep it cool, keep it calm, and hope I hadn't scared him off. We were both really drunk, I figured. Drunken people say stupid shit occasionally, right? I hoped that he wouldn't think of me as that extreme, that I was just some girl who callously used phrases like "I love you" without meaning them. But out of him thinking I was stalker-crazy, or him thinking I was an idiot while drunk, I'd take option B any day.

I contemplated that as I went into the shower, unable to even attempt to consider facing the masses while I smelled like the bottom of an ashtray and looked like a horse's ass. I was confident I could play the whole thing off, or at least add it to the pile of conversations we were apparently avoiding.

Stuff like, _oh hey, I kinda told my two best friends that you were the father of Angela's baby, and now I have to give them an explanation of why I don't hate your guts. But, wait, they happen to be dating your brothers, who have no idea the real father is Daddy-C._

Just trivial shit like that.

I threw on a black silk robe that I had packed after I'd finished in the bathroom, backing out of the room while viciously towel drying my hair.

I backed right into the hard form of Edward's body, glad that my hair and the towel were blocking my face from view. An immediate blush had infused my face, because apparently the confidence I was feeling over last night hadn't been relayed to my rebellious cheeks.

"Easy there," his mouth said against my ear, as his arms wrapped around me to keep us upright, "Wouldn't want you to shake something loose."

Edward took the towel out of my hand and replaced it with a McDonald's bag. He paused for a second with his nose buried in my wet hair before backing away from me.

"Really?" I asked incredulously, turning to watch him as he grabbed the pillows off the bed and put them on the floor in front of his couch. "I wouldn't take the Cullen's for a fast food family."

Edward sat on the couch, and pointed to the pillows at his feet, indicating I should sit. "What you have in your hot little hand, young lady," he told me, in his best stern work voice, "is a Cullen approved hangover cure. McDonald's watered-down Coke and large fries. Trust me; I've already delivered one to the suffering couple and one to my contrite mother. Now sit, please."

I obediently sat with my back to him on the cushions, hearing his groan as my robe parted over me, exposing my legs completely. I rubbed them together a bit for his benefit.

"The suffering couple?" I asked, as Edward began gently drying my hair with the towel. Apparently we _would _be avoiding discussion of last night, for which I was eternally grateful.

"Alice and Jasper. Jazz drank his body mass in Vodka and I'm just going to go right ahead and presume Alice is suffering because she's so damn tiny." He was picking up different clumps of hair and rubbing them with the towel, so softly and caringly that I had to swallow a lump in my throat.

"You presume right," I said finally, around a gulp of Coke. My free hand absently begun rubbing his ankle through his jeans, and I felt him sigh and give me a kiss on the top of my head before he went back to work.

"So I talked to my mom this morning." He said abruptly, after a comfortable silence. "She probably won't be coming down to say goodbye, as she handles her drink about as well as Alice and Jazz combined."

"That's fair enough." I agreed, wondering where this was going, while appreciating the genius of his hangover cure.

"You probably saw the pointed looks she was giving me yesterday." He said, very casually. I would have had to be _blind _to miss the pointed looks Edward was getting every time he touched me, so I nodded around the towel. "She was shocked, because I've never brought a girlfriend home to meet her, however odd the circumstance."

I knew he could feel me tensing up, and under my hand on his ankle I felt him do the same, probably waiting for my reaction. _Girlfriend_. He doesn't think I'm some crazy stalker chick. He wants me. I calmed down, relaxing my tense shoulders as Edward's hands cautiously started on my hair again.

"But she doesn't hate me for thinking so badly of her youngest son when we got here? Or think I'm a baboon after our _Titanic_ argument last night?" I asked, in the same casual tone Edward was using.

"Not at all. In fact, having you aware of the Angela situation has prompted her to take some steps. She and Carlisle are going to have to tell Em and Jazz soon. Also she wants to have dinner with us and Carlisle when we're in the city, to sought out Carlisle's attitude to the whole thing." He had finished drying my hair and was running his fingers through the smooth locks in lieu of a brush.

I tuned out the implications of how horrible _that _dinner would be; instead focusing on the fact his mom didn't want my guts for garters. Which was a really disgusting term, now that I thought about it.

"Now she's just waiting for you to move in so she can redecorate my apartment." Edward said, in his still too-casual voice.

I laughed automatically and ignored the thrill that my imagination sent through me at the idea of insinuating myself into his life like that. At the idea of waking up every morning with him, falling asleep in his arms.

Okay.

Fine.

Fuck it.

I was imaging him butt naked in the shower every morning.

"Geez," I said finally, "She's moving fast."

In response, Edward slid down off the couch so he was straddling me, one of his hands coming up to continue playing with my hair, and the other sliding down to grip my thigh possessively.

"Perhaps." He agreed, after he was comfortable. "But I told her we'd have a test run, you know, to keep the peace and all that."

"You did, huh?" I sighed, leaning back more comfortably against him while feeding him some fries over my shoulder. And really, should a man gnawing on a strip of potato be that fucking erotic? "What would this test run entail?"

Edward's hand began running up and down the inside of my thigh, barely grazing between my legs on each pass. Making me pretty certain I wanted to be going commando for the rest of my life.

"Oh, you know. Being naked in my Jacuzzi while I ravish you senseless, being naked in my bath while I ravish you senseless, being naked in my bed while I ravish you senseless, being naked on the rug in front of the fire while I ravish you senseless..."

"So what I'm gathering is there _may_ be some possible nudity involved?" I asked glibly, because it was glibness or squealing in joy at the idea of finally having this man.

Edward laughed huskily and twisted his head so he could give me a trademark kiss on the tip of my nose. My heart thumped unevenly; just like it had done the last few times he'd made the charming gesture.

"Sweetheart," he shot back, just as glib as me, "I think I might introduce a drop your panties at the door policy where you're concerned."

"When do we start?" I asked, giving him a challenging look over my shoulder.

"What are you doing tomorrow night?" Edward countered immediately.

I leant in, so my mouth was against his ear, and whispered in my best husky voice, "Apparently, I'm being naked while you ravish me senseless..."

If Edward's groan was anything to go by, tomorrow night was going to be a home run.

_Booyah_.

**

* * *

Hee. Edward is such an Emo compared to Bella.**

**Edward's all where for art thou, be still my beating heart and shit.**

**Bella's all, hey, chill, live in denial, act glib and shit.**

**Meanwhile, tomorrow nights going to be great fun for our crazy kiddies :)**

**170 reviews=update.**


	23. Home Run

**Anyway, four days ago my boyfriend goes wake boarding with "the boys" and manages to break an arm and three ribs. I'm now playing mother, housekeeper, chef as well as girlfriend, which is why this update has taken so long.**

**On the upside, this chapter is really long.**

**And, most importantly – there's sex.**

**Reviews=update.**

**

* * *

BPOV.**

Do you remember how you envisioned loosing your virginity?

In my mind, the entire scene looked like something out of a cheesy rock-ballad music video.

A dark four-poster bed with white sheets and blood red rose petals.

Dramatic, heavy on the bass guitar music playing as Johnny Depp and me reach a crescendo.

My hair was absolutely flawless through the entire affair (of course), and Johnny was in his _Chocolat_ faze, thus looking gorgeous.

The reality was _so _much better.

Sunday afternoon "the Gang" (as Emmett was now calling Alice, Rose, Edward, Jasper, me and himself) left Forks, not long after Edward had informed me he would be ravishing my naked body post-haste.

Alice's hangover was one of those nightmare over-dramatized morning-after's that people have in movies. Sunglasses inside, no loud noises, and, particularly, copious amounts of throwing up. Because Rose was unable to be around someone throwing up without upchucking herself, and Alice point-blank refused to have Jasper see her while she was like that, the duty of holding her hair and rubbing her back fell squarely on my shoulders.

There was a severe amount of turbulence the closer we got to home due to a freak storm that was supposed to last a few days. The extra shaking of the small plane meant Alice was literally in the bathroom for the entire trip. I hardly had time to say a word to Edward from the moment we stepped on the plane in Washington, to the moment the boys dropped us off at home in New York.

We got in a hasty kiss goodbye, and established a pick up time for work the next day, but there was no; so pack a toothbrush and some work clothes, but don't bother bringing any panties.

Rose wisely suggested that I have a bag at the ready for our "test run", then if Edward mentioned it I would be ready to go, and if he didn't I wouldn't have made an ass out of myself by just presuming.

So when Edward picked me up at our usual time on Monday morning, I should have been the Energizer fucking Bunny of excitement and nerves. But I had been awake _all _night with Alice, so when I opened the door to Edward, who greeted me with a grin so wide it look liked it hurt, all I could manage was "Ungh."

Edward's eyes swept over my face, clearly seeing the very attractive bags under my eyes, and then he clicked his tongue sympathetically and gathered me into his arms.

"Oh darling. Was it Alice? How is she?" he asked, running his hands up and down my back so soothingly I thought I might fall asleep.

"She's disgustingly chipper now that she's thrown up a weeks worth of meals – I made her do a scouts honor that she wouldn't drink that again much until it's Jasper's job to look after her."

"Well it's my job to look after you." He countered, with no trace of arrogance whatsoever. It was like he was just stating facts, and I felt my heart swell a little. "Which is exactly what I intend to do tonight."

I stepped back from his lulling warmth to give him an innocently confused look.

"Tonight?" I asked him in a blank voice, trying to hedge my excitement.

Edward's eyes swept over me, analyzing every inch of my body. I had dressed myself this morning; a grey shirt dress with black tights and black Mary Jane heels. I had been too tired to play Bella Barbie with Alice, so I was wearing a dash of Cherry Chap Stick for color and my hair was a pulled into a loose French twist. I probably hadn't looked so innocent in weeks (since Alice started dressing me for my seducing-the-boss campaign).

His hand came up to cup my cheek, and he gave me a concerned, caring, determined look.

"You don't have to stay over if you don't want to, Angel." He told me gently, with no accusation in his eyes at all. "But if you do I promise I won't attack you at the door. All that's going to happen is that I'm going to make you some fantastic pasta – incidentally the only thing I can cook – run you a bath and put you straight to bed."

I was fairly certain I _wanted _him to attack me at the door, but he looked so damned determined to just look after me that I leant in to give him a kiss of gratitude.

It was a light kiss, with me gently rubbing his bottom lip between mine. Then he suddenly gasped against my mouth, moving his lips so he could tug my lip into his mouth. He sucked on it until it was throbbing, and then he apparently came to his senses because he jumped back quickly.

"Sorry," he said, shuffling his feet like the kid caught with their hand in the cookie jar. "You tasted like cherries."

"_I _don't mind," I muttered, stressing the "I". It was him who was concerned about my tiredness; I was more concerned with getting him to gasp like that again.

"No, no," he smiled, as if he thought I was lying to appease him, "I promise I'll be good and go easy on you. Please stay over tonight."

I raised my eyes to the heavens in resignation of his chivalry, and told him in my best Angelic voice, "Well, then I better quickly pack a change of clothes."

I innocently ran back into my bedroom, waited three minutes, and then came back out with my already packed overnight bag.

_Smooth_.

Edward spent the entire day looking after me. I would have told him just to chill and not worry about one sleepless night, but I could see the pleasure it brought him to care for me.

_He_ made _me _a coffee in the morning, a scene so surreal I had to laugh at him. He didn't let me run any of the errands that needed to be done, instead using Jessica and one of Carlisle's spare assistants to do the work. He made me take a nap on the couch in his office during my lunch break, my head pillowed in his lap as he read over a report and played with my hair. I had to actually admit, the nap did me a world of good and I was feeling rather cheerful about the whole ravishing we had planned. Though Edward was showing every indication of wanting to tuck me into bed the minute we got to his place.

When the day finally ended Edward led me into his Volvo and even did my fucking belt up for me. It was pouring down rain outside, and while we were stuck in traffic the tension between the two of us in such a confined space (a space we had already gotten rather comfortable with each other in) seemed to escalate. Just when my hopeful excitement of something happing tonight started to kick-in, another disaster in a perfectly disastrous day struck. Edward's straight-off-the-line, specially modified Volvo broke down two blocks from his house. In the traffic that the unseasonal rain had created, the auto club told him it would be at least two hours before they could get to him.

Edward had managed to get the Volvo parked before it broke down completely, so I suggested we just make a run for it, and damn the consequences of ruining my pretty, pretty shoes. Edward frowned at that, arguing something about my delicate female sensibilities and how running through the pelting rain probably wasn't a good idea in case I caught a chill. The feminist, the one Rosalie had instilled in me, kicked in, and in response I gave him a bright smile, the finger, and hopped out of the car.

Edward easily caught up to me with those long, powerful fuck-me-please legs, and he captured my elbow rather roughly and leant into my ear, "you never listen, do you?"

I turned to give him my most provocative look, which easily melted away the irritation on his face, causing something much darker to take its place. Even then, I noticed the thoughtful fucker had my overnight bag slung over his shoulder. The man was too good to be true.

"I can handle getting a little _wet_, Edward." I purred at him. His hand slid down from my elbow to my hip, pulling me into his side as he laughed huskily.

"You'll be the death of me Bella, I swear." He kissed the top of my head as he hurried us along, trying to shelter me with his body as much as possible.

Hmmm. Didn't the French call an orgasm "the little death"? I knew little about enough to know that most girls don't orgasm during their first sexual experience, and that was fine by me. I'd get there eventually. For some reason the thought of bringing _him _pleasure interested me more. I wanted to strip him naked, lay him in front of me, and touch every centimeter of him.

All day he had been making it clear that he expected nothing of me tonight, that all he wanted to do was cherish me and look after me. While I appreciated that, more then he probably knew, the fact of the matter was that _I _had expectations about tonight. I wanted him, and I'll be damned if I was going to let a little tiredness, some rain, and his desire to treat me like breakable glass get in my way.

We were soaking wet by the time we got to Edward's, and we both stopped in the foyer, me shivering, both of us looking like drowned cats, water pooling at our feet on his tiled floor.

"Okay." Edward said, in his no-nonsense business voice. "I'm going to quickly change and start dinner, you're going to take a shower and change out of your wet clothes." He noticed that I was about to open my mouth and offer my cooking services, and added severely. "No arguing."

I giggled at his severe manner and sent him a mocking salute. "Yessir."

Edward smiled in tolerant amusement and gave me a playful slap on the ass as I turned to go to his bedroom.

"Good little solider." He called after me, sending me a panty-dropping wink that made me want to forget the possible case of pneumonia I was catching and lick his neck.

I took my time in Edward's fantastic shower, the water beating down on my body making me sway tiredly on my feet. Only when I got out and was wrapped in one of his fluffy towels did I realize I'd left my overnight bag back in the foyer.

Now, for someone else this might have been a mortifyingly uncomfortable situation, but I just grinned wickedly to myself, went into Edward's walk in wardrobe, and pulled out one of his pristine white shirts. Confident Bella (the one who said words like phallus and who gave people foot jobs in public) was here to play, and I was more then willing to give her full rein.

I dropped the towel and buttoned up his shirt over my otherwise completely bare body. The full-body mirror in Edward's wardrobe reflected the erotic image of the bottom of the shirt skimming my knees. Perfect. Forget sleep – I was totally being ravished tonight.

When I got to the kitchen, Edward had his back to me, and was stirring a pot of something on the stove. He was wearing loose cotton pajama bottoms and an old grey t-shirt, and I could see the curve of his ass easily under the thin material.

"How's it going, Betty Crocker?" I asked him, to announce my presence. He whirled around with the spoon in his hand, his mouth falling open and his eyes bugging out of his head as he took in my appearance.

I saw the now familiar darkening in his eyes as they became fixed on my bare legs. He swallowed hard and then turned slowly back to the stove as if the sight of me was too much for him.

"I've started a fire in the library for you. Dinner's shouldn't be long and I can bring it there." His voice was strained and he was gripping the spoon tighter then he really should.

I laughed, loud enough for him to hear, and swatted his ass, like he had done to me earlier, as I walked out of the room. I heard a groan and his swearing from behind me, which was a clear indicator of Mission Accomplished.

The library was lit up orange from the crackling fire, making it look like something out of _Pride & Prejudice_. I wanted to sprawl myself over the comfy couch in a provocative position for Edward's arrival, but the rug in front of the fire was looking too damn inviting. I settled onto it with a happy sigh and promised myself that I wouldn't fall asleep before Edward got back.

**

* * *

EPOV.**

When I got to the library Bella was fast asleep, curled up like a cat on the Persian rug. She had an old-world beauty about her in the glow of the fire, her hair a riot of curls after it had dried from her shower. I watched her for a long moment, admiring the flare of her hips under the stark white of my shirt. The white shirt that had almost made me jizz myself earlier.

I contemplated waking her for dinner, but the idea of disturbing her when she looked so peaceful – in _my _home, no less – passed very quickly.

Instead I sat on the couch, so Bella was practically curled at my feet. I wasn't proud of the feelings of _ownership_ that coursed through me, but if felt so fucking right, having this woman here, in my favorite room, like she always belonged there.

Bella had been so miserable all day, exhausted after a night of looking after Alice, and all I wanted to do was shelter her and protect her. I had been rather exhausted myself, having spent all Sunday night with a hard-on the size of the Empire State Building thinking about the way she whispered in my ear: _I'm being naked while you ravish me senseless_.

I tried to shower her all day in love and kindness, showing her without so many words that I worshipped the very ground she walked on, and that she didn't need to feel any kind of obligation for tonight. Or however long she needed (though every moment I wasn't in physical contact with her was like torture).

As I contemplated the epic blue-balls I would have the longer this went on, I watched Bella's plump little mouth, opened sensuously as she slept. I don't know how long it was that I sat there and watched her, but one minute she was curled up asleep, and the next she was blinking up at me.

"Good evening, Bella." I all but cooed down at her. What can I say? Bella brought out my inner cooer.

"I was dreaming about you." She yawned in a drowsy voice.

"I hope it was pleasant?" I asked, immediately regretting the innuendo laced through my tone. I didn't want her to feel obligated because of the way we had been building up this night. But unfortunately, I just couldn't help the lecherous thoughts I had around her.

As if she was purposely trying to weaken my resolve, Bella sat up on her knees in front of me in what could only be described as a submissive permission.

"We were in this random hotel room I'd stayed in once on a holiday." She rubbed her eyes, and she would have looked like a child if it weren't for the fact that my shirt lifted over hair bare hips and stretched over her bare breasts.

I remembered licking her juices off the inside of those sweet, soft thighs, and the weight of those breasts in the palm of my hands. Unsurprisingly, I felt the abrupt; corresponding tightening in my groin and for the billionth time, cursed my body's reaction to her.

"And what was I doing to you, Angel?" I asked her, and I was using my best _make-em-wet-n-eager_ voice without conscious decision. So much for caring and considerate.

Bella glanced down, at where my cock was easily tenting the thin material of my pajama pants. In response to her glance my cock twitched in fucking hello, because that's just what it did when Bella acknowledged its existence.

Bella's eyes flicked up to mine as her hand went casually to the top button of the shirt. The tension between the two of us seemed to heighten dramatically as those inconspicuous fingers began flicking at buttons, and I gritted my teeth against the need to drag her into my lap.

Bella gave me a pointed look. "_Very _presumptuous, Mr. Cullen." Every time she called me that I imagined I was forcing her over my desk and wrapping a fist around her hair while I fucked her. That, combined with the way she had managed to unbutton the shirt to her waist (without actually revealing more then a sliver of skin) had me panting in anticipation.

"You should be asking what _I _was doing to _you_..." the shirt fell off her shoulders, exposing her neck and collarbones to my reverent gaze. The desire to worship versus the desire to ravage were fighting a heated battle in my head, and only a firm grip on the arm of the couch kept me from moving.

"Tell me." I ordered, eyes roaming over the expanse of her neck and shoulders. A seemingly innocent area that was brining forth some very un-innocent desires.

Bella ducked her head, and I saw her delicious blush. "I think," she began nervously, shocking me with the change in her tone, "that I'd rather show you?"

She was asking me? If she had any doubt in her mind about whether I wanted her to touch me, then I was doing something wrong. I wanted her all over me. I could be in the middle of an address to the fucking Nation and I'd still want her hands roaming me.

Instead of telling her that, I tried giving her another out; "you're tired, darling, we don't have to..."

"I want to." Her voice was tiny and her head was still downcast, her shoulder's hunching protectively, and I couldn't help but ask for confirmation of my presumptions.

"You're a virgin, aren't you, Sweetheart?"

The blush intensified and she nodded. And if anyone needed anymore proof for the Theory of Evolution, I was fucking it. Because when the woman I loved, kneeling at my fucking feet, in my fucking shirt, told me no man had ever had ever taken her before, I felt an animalistic satisfaction that clearly stemmed from my evolutionary gene pool.

_Cave. Fucking. Man._

"Then you really are mine." I growled; so low under my breath that when the civilized Edward – the one who ran a billion dollar company and mingled in upper society – returned, he'd be relieved that Bella probably hadn't heard my claim on her. Louder, and striving to keep the hunger out of my voice, I told her, "So let _me _pleasure _you_ then, Angel. You don't have to show me anything."

My words seemed to have renewed that sexy confidence, because she looked up and scooted closer to me, one of her shoulders nudging one of my knees. Then she looked right into my eyes and arched an eyebrow challengingly. Always challenging me, always making me want to control her body, to consume her fucking soul.

"Exploring you. That's what will bring me pleasure. Or don't you want me to touch you?"

Because I could never back down from anything she threw at me, I responded by quickly tugging my shirt up and over my head, throwing it across the room and leaning back arrogantly in my seat.

I knew she would be more comfortable if we kept up the way we had been flirting the past few weeks, and I wanted her to be as comfortable as possible, so I smirked at her and said, "Do your worst, Princess."

She'd have to be deaf, dumb and stupid to miss the gauntlet I threw down, and as Bella was none of those things, she leant forward and pressed her palm flat against the tops of my knees.

"Good boy." She smirked, not only picking up the gauntlet but also waving it teasingly in front of my face.

That was fine.

Bella could have her control for now; I was more then willing to submit to her exploration. But when the time came, when that first thrust happened, I was going to make sure she was mindless, as frenzied with lust as I was, a living flame in my bed, in my arms.

She shocked me by running her palms down, as apposed to up, over my knees and then around the back of my legs, feeling the muscle there. Her hands skimmed up after she was done, over the tops of my thighs, which lifter almost imperceptibly into her touch. My cock was straining for her attention, a damp patch already on my pants, but instead she rubbed her thumbs over my v-bones and then curled her hands into the tops of my pants.

"Let's take these off." Bella suggested, already tugging on the material. I had promised myself that I would let her have her fun, but I quickly grabbed her hands and put them back to my thighs. Barely resisting putting them on my cock.

"Keep them on, please." I all but begged her. Bella looked at me thoughtfully for a second and then thankfully mover her hands to my forearms.

Thankfully, because if she asked why I would have had to say: _Because the second I take these off I'm going to be plunging my cock into that tight wet pussy_.

Bella began running her hands up my arms, increasing the pressure of her hand when she felt my hard biceps clench under her. She then came down over my collarbone and chest while I desperately tried to ignore the skin exposed at the front of her shirt.

Then to my ribs and stomach, her hands alternating between light and hard caresses. I was a fantastically behaved specimen, giving her all the reactions she desired. Wherever she was touching I could feel the muscles contracting, her heated palms meeting even more heated flesh.

My hands were clenched at my sides; my breathing coming in steady but short gasps, my eyes glued to Bella's face. She was watching her hands as they moved in fascination, and she seemed to have forgotten I was there. I was an object to her, something that she was admiring, and while I had never been arrogant about my looks, except when it worked as a tool to persuade the gentler sex, I felt arrogant then. Bella, my Bella, the Bella I had spent months coveting, desired me too.

"Almost done?" I asked her, this time with raw hunger evident in my voice. I knew I couldn't give in and just assail her, but her ministrations were becoming torturous.

Bella started at my words, as if she really had been lost to my presence. Her hands moved back up my chest and settled there, no doubt feeling my heaving breaths.

"Almost," she whispered back. Her fingers discovered my nipples then, and when she tugged them roughly, shooting pleasure straight to my already throbbing groin, I hissed at her like a fucking animal, my hands abruptly snapping down on her shoulders.

Her eyebrows shot up and I reluctantly released her delicate flesh, even as her fingers went back to twisting and tugging at my nipples, causing me to moan her name continuously under my breath and my head to fall back against the couch.

Bella gave me a reprieve after a minute (which was lucky as I was seconds away from the attacking her scenario), her tiny hands coming up across my neck, making my Adam's apple bob furiously as I swallowed. She traced the line of my clenched jaw with the tips of her fingers, then my cheeks, nose, brow, and finally my lips.

After she had finished tracing every inch of my face, she sat back, removed her hands, and said softly, "Okay, darling. I'm all yours."

_My Angel_.

I didn't move for a minute, simply stared down at her kneeling between my legs. She had me so worked up that if I touched her right now I wouldn't be capable of the restraint needed in dealing with her first time. I wouldn't fail her by abusing the gift she was giving me.

When I was as calm as I was going to get in the present circumstance, I reach down and gently lifted her to her feet. As we were standing in front of one another I leant in and kissed every inch of her face, leaving the tip of her nose for last.

Her hands had come up to lean against my chest, and she murmured in a somewhat dazed voice, "Your heart is beating so fast..."

"That's because you're touching me." _Because you're here, you're mine and I still can't believe my good fortune. _"Will you come to my bedroom, Bella?"

Bella rolled her eyes at the formal way I was asking her, but I wanted it to be clear, I wanted it to always be her choice. In response she ran her hand back down my chest until she was twining our fingers together.

"I said I was all yours, didn't I?" She smiled gently at me.

I led us out of the room, past our forgotten dinner, and towards my bedroom. I was smoothing Bella's palm in mine, burying my face in her hair, trying to wordlessly tell her; _I love you_.

In my room, the bedside lamp was still on from when Bella changed, and it provided the perfect amount of illumination for the wonderful task at hand. I could feel Bella's nerves growing with each step, and I would have laughed out loud if it wouldn't have seemed insensitive. She had nothing to be nervous about; she was my Heaven. It was I who had to worry about not bringing _her _pleasure. What if she left me?

When we were standing in front of the bed I dragged Bella into my arms, murmured her name, and pressed my lips to hers. I gently sucked on her lip for a while before her mouth opened to mine with a sigh. Wasting no time, I swept my tongue into her mouth, reacquainting myself with her taste as her hands came up to pull at my hair. The pain of that made me grunt and thrust my tongue in harder, rougher, and Bella responded by standing on the tips of her toes and rubbing against me like a cat against its Master.

I pulled away from her lips with a growl, and, because I apparently can't control a thing I fucking say around her, I snarled, "Those are _mine_."

Bella looked confused, licking her lips as she asked, "What are?"

In response I pushed my shirt the rest of the way off her body, until she was standing there, naked and like a glorious offering, in front of me. Watching her reaction, I flicked two fingers against each of her nipples, and said, "These are. These beautiful tits that you rub against me. Mine."

She moaned, arching her back so her breasts were thrust towards me. I bent my head down and began peppering wet kissed along her neck, over her collarbone, and down until I was taking as much of her left breast into my mouth as possible. Her skin tasted amazing and I couldn't help but scrape my teeth against its softness. Bella began chanting my name under her breath – the sexiest thing I had ever heard – as my hand came up to cup and rub her neglected right breast.

I switched my frantic attentions between the two, more blood rushing to my groin at the little desperate sounds she was making, at the rough tug of her fingers on my hair, at her sweet skin under my tongue. When I could feel Bella's legs shaking I dropped to my knees, reached around and roughly grabbed her ass, pulling her closer to me.

At that, Bella let out a squeak shortly followed by a moan. It was her moan that caught my interest, so, experimentally; I roughly groped the tight flesh of her ass again.

"Edward..." she whimpered, and holy fuck that sound was hot, if the bigger patch of pre-cum dampening my cotton pants was anything to go by.

"You like that, little Angel?" I couldn't help but hiss, "Maybe later I can spank that perfect ass? Do you want that?" I _really_ needed to work on a fucking censor.

But I needn't have worried, as Bella practically melted in my arms at my harshly spoken words, and I filed that delightful tid-bit away for later.

_Note to self: Spank Bella_.

_Then die of contentment_.

I ran one hand around the curve of her ass, across her hip, until I was cupping the back of it. Then I lifted her leg over my shoulder, locking it there with my hand, so her dripping pussy was right in front of my eager mouth. Bella steadied herself with a hand on my other shoulder and by bending the leg she still had balanced on the ground.

She was looking down at me with eyes slit with lust, her mouth red and open.

"I can smell how wet you are, darling," I told her, taking a theatrical whiff that filled my senses with her heady musk, "and I just _have _to have a taste."

Bella moaned while I used my free hand to finger apart her folds. Then I leant forward and began lapping up and down her slit with my tongue, making sure to barely stab into her hole and tug on her clit slightly as I passed. Belled became the senseless animal I had wanted her to be, throwing her head back and digging her fingers into my shoulder to keep on her feet. The knowledge that I had made her like this, accompanied by her delicious taste, made me grunt and groan into her, adding to her pleasure. When I moved my tongue to just her clit and eased two fingers into her, her body clasped down on them almost immediately, and she panted my name as her orgasm rocked her.

My cock was twitching almost incessantly at how tightly her pussy had clasped on my digits, imagining the same pleasure on my cock. Even as her orgasm subsided and her delicious juices trickled down my palm, I continued to pump my fingers in and out of her, sucking roughly on her clit.

"Please, Edward..." she begged, her first wave of pleasure already forgotten as I worked furiously to bring her to a second. When I felt her beginning to tighten again, I gently removed my fingers and released her flesh from my mouth.

Bella was making keening sounds of protest, and I quickly set her lifted leg back on the floor and took to my feet in front of her.

"Shh, darling," I whispered to her, wiping my mouth on the back of my hand as I leant in to kiss her again. Bella sucked on my tongue as greedily as she had the last time I had kissed her after licking her pussy, and I couldn't help but whimper at her enthusiasm.

I cupped that perfect ass again, pulling her body against mine as I ground my erection against her stomach. Bella threw her arms around my neck, locking me in place, as we fell onto the bed together.

We broke away for air while I positioned my body over hers, and feeling her wetness seeping through my pants and onto my cock, I knew I wouldn't last long.

"Please, can we...can we...?" Bella trailed off as I reached over and rummaged through the top drawer of my dresser, my mouth never breaking contact with her neck.

"Can we what?" I asked against her skin, "Tell me what you want from me _and only me_ and I'll give it to you. I'll give you anything you ask, darling."

"I'm on the pill," she whispered, rightly guessing that I was rummaging for a condom. My cock throbbed its most painful throb yet at the idea of taking her bareback, and I quickly slammed the drawer shut.

I looked into her eyes, our foreheads touching, as I leant above her, and silently asked her if she was ready. Bella nodded, and I reached down and quickly freed myself of my pants, kicking them off the bed. My cock sprang free, slapping against her thigh and making both of us shudder.

I moved so I was between her spread legs again, my cock finding the warmth of her folds and nestling against them. Bella latched her arms around my shoulders, holding on, drawing our faces back together and locking our gazes.

"Tell me what you want, my Angel. Tell me what you want me to do to you." I reminded her, rubbing my cock up and down, coating my shaft in her wetness. Even that friction was amazing, exponentially soothing and increasing my brutal desire for her.

Bella was writhing under me, and she barely managed to focus enough to moan against my lips, "I want to feel your cock inside me. Only yours."

_Fuck_. Adding that "only yours" flicked some sort of crazy switch in my brain. I was suddenly grabbing my dick, aligning it with here opening.

"You tell me if I hurt," I pleaded with her in a hoarse voice, my eyes still locked with hers. With a rolling motion of my hips, I pushed against her, letting her warmth suck me in. She was so tight it was almost a painful pleasure as I stretched and filled her, and when I got to her barrier I tensed, keeping our gazes held as I finally pushed all the way in.

Bella's back arched; an instinctual response to fight off my invasion. I held still, fully sheathed inside her, pressing my forehead to hers as she rode out the pain.

"I'm sorry," I murmured in the same hoarse voice. The feeling of being inside her was so fucking intense that I was almost glad for the need to remain still, as any sudden movement until I had gained better control would lead to my precipitately ending things.

After a minute Bella calmed, and she began rocking her hips against my stationary body experimentally. Each movement sent shooting bolts of pleasure through my cock, and the tiny gasps she was making made it obvious that it was the same for her.

"Here," I told her huskily, stilling her hips with my hands. "Let me."

And I took over, pulling almost all the way out and then gently easing back in. I kept going, being as temperate as possible with her, my muscles trembling with restrained force.

"Oh..." Bella gasped, and she wrapped her legs around my waist, sucking me deeper into her body. My head fell to her shoulder as I grunted her name in pleasure, my forearms on either side of her head keeping me from crushing her as I thrust in and out.

I was trying to restrain the desire to tear into her with each plunge, but Bella's ankles suddenly locked around my lower back, meaning I had to push harder on each thrust to work against their resistance. The feeling of slamming into her was too damn good, and my hips automatically started undulating faster, harder. I listened to our breathing quicken as I increased my pace, so incredibly turned on by the sounds of pleasure I was ringing out of her.

I felt my arms weaken and give out as the tempo I was creating picked up, and then I was pressed completely over her, my cock still plunging into her. Somewhere in my lust clouded brain I feared I was hurting her, so I struggled to get back to my elbows, but Bella's arms locked around me, her nails digging into my back.

"Stay..." she gasped, drawing my face towards hers by the arms around my neck.

_I'll always stay_ – _yours forever_.

I crushed my mouth against hers, and when Bella whimpered my name around my tongue my hips moved faster, the tip of my cock hitting her womb on each thrust. The feeling was so amazing that I was snarling her name under my breath, our breathing mingling between our open mouths.

I was so close that it was taking everything I had to hold on, so I smoothly elevated myself back to one elbow to run my hand between our bodies and find her swollen clit.

"I want," I grunted, barely managing to get the words out between my hard thrusts, "you to cum. For _me_."

I pinched her clit on the last word, and Bella's moans filled the room as her pussy clenched hard on my cock. I could _feel_ her juices releasing around me, and suddenly I was screaming her name into her neck as I came, emptying into her in several long spurts.

We stayed like that for a perfect minute, until I reluctantly shifted my hips, pulling out of her. The loss of her heat and wet and sheathing made me actually wince. But my mind was still a blank state of euphoria as I rolled us onto our sides, gathering Bella into my arms and burying my face into her hair. Had anyone, anywhere ever experienced something so fucking perfect?

I doubted it.

I could feel Bella's exhaustion in the shaking of her limps, so I arranged us more comfortably, tucking her properly against my body, where she fucking belonged. Bella nestled into my side, draping a proprietary thigh around mine, and I loved how some part of her obviously knew I was hers. When her thigh settled on top of mine, my arms tightened on her in what I'm sure was a painful grip. But I just couldn't handle the idea of any space between us. Fucking ever again.

I thought she had drifted to sleep as I reverently stroked her hair, but what she mumbled against my chest next made me fall just that little bit more in love with her, if such as thing was possible.

"So," she yawned, pressing her face into my chest. "When do we get to the spanking?"

**

* * *

So yes, I realize that wasn't very sexy, but it was her first time so they were taking it slow and stuff. The kinky dirty talking stuff will come later, promise.**

**Thoughts?**

**Reviews=Update!**


	24. Epiphany

**Sorry about the lack of updates guys, this boyfriend injury thing has been a nightmare. It's totally true what they say about all guys turning into needy children when sick/hurt!**

**As usual, I probably won't be able to update tomorrow or the day after, but from then on it should be should be smooth sailing, barring anymore wakeboarding accidents. Which wont happen, cause I totally banned the idiot.**

**Reviews = Update.**

**

* * *

BPOV. **

I totally understood him now.

I mean, before, he had been a complete enigma, a series of changing characters that were each uniquely different.

But now?

Now I completely understood Keanu Reeves.

I never really got why he had to say "whoa" in practically every movie he did.

I mean, had something _that _amazing happened, Keanu?

But to describe last night; all I could think about was…

_Whoa_.

I had just lost my virginity to Edward Cullen. And it had been the most amazing, loving experience of my entire life. He had treated me like I was made of glass, something precious that needed to be worshipped and bowed down before – he had literally been on his knees before me, pleasuring me, like getting me off was his only care in the world. The way he had stroked every inch of my skin, the way he had said my name in my ear as he pumped into me, it was reverent, perfect.

The way Rose and Alice had described sex to me, it always sounded like such a selfish act, a man taking his pleasure from you, a man using your body to serve his own needs. I had even been looking forward to that, figuring it couldn't be _so_ bad if it was Edward, the man I love, gaining pleasure from me.

He had easily proven me wrong. Sex with Edward was like – _drugs_. A mind-altering, addictive experience, something that as I looked back on it, felt like it happened to a different person. Only the rather pleasurable soreness between my legs was there to prove me wrong.

That, and the giant cock poking me in the back.

Edward was still asleep, one of his arms curled towards his head so I could use his hard – though infinitely preferable – bicep as a pillow. I had pulled away slightly while I had been asleep, so though we had been a sweaty, heaving mess, I could now only feel his chest pressing into mine every time he inhaled.

Though I still couldn't see outside because the curtains were closed, I knew it was well before when we needed to wake up for work. I had fallen asleep right after my – deflowering – and I presume Edward had too (that is, after he'd stopped clutching me so close to him that I thought I was going to cry from the wonderfulness of the whole thing).

I had only woken up now because Edward was whimpering in his sleep. At first I thought he was having some sort of nightmare, and had fully intended to wake him up, knowing I would never be able to endure listening to him suffer. But then he started rubbing his hips together while he slept, and though his hips were nowhere near touching mine, I could still feel the head of his cock knocking hello against my lower back. Cause that's just how big that thing was. I felt the pooling of heat between my legs and decided then and there that I really wasn't _that _sore.

Determined, I wriggled back against him, moving up his body so he was nestled against my ass. Edward's whimpering increased as I moved, and he began shifting into me, too. Apparently, this man could literally fuck in his sleep.

"Bella…" his voice was a choking sound of desperation, though he was still mostly asleep. The bicep that I had been sleeping on flexed underneath my head as I rubbed against him, and his arm abruptly uncurled so that he could wrap it around my shoulders.

I was pulled back against Edward's body as I continued to move, and I could hear his breathing hitch as he woke up and realized our position. I quickly stilled my movements; still not confident enough when it came to sex to be caught rubbing him like a lucky Buddha.

"Bella?" He croaked quietly, wondering whether I was awake.

"What's the story, morning glory?" I teased him, letting him know I was aware of the throbbing…issue he was having.

I tried to roll over to face him, but the arm around my shoulder tightened, just as his free hand snaked over my body to cup me between the legs.

"Don't move, please." Edward said, in his best I'm-speaking-calmly-because-I'm-about-to-do-something-the-kiddies-shouldn't-see voice.

It was a moot request, anyways, because a second later the hand that was cupping me between the legs started rubbing up and down _roughly_, not focusing on any particular part of me, but rather just spreading my wetness up and over my clit. And now a stampeding heard of moose couldn't get me to move from his magical hands...I just hoped the magical fingers would come into play, too.

"Yesss." Edward hissed viciously, as the arm that was underneath my neck and around my shoulders dropped down so his hands could grope my breasts. He started twisting and tugging at my nipples and I yelped and moaned like, well, like a fucking bitch in heat.

Hell, I _was _a bitch in heat.

Without any warning, and with a flick of his wrist, two of his fingers were pushed inside me, and he began pumping them in and out immediately, my muscles already coiling and releasing at the sensation. I began taking deep, gasping breaths as he worked my tight entrance and my nipples, and Edward's grunting breaths were already in time with mine. I felt like he was impatiently preparing my body for him, and decided that I needed therapy considering how much that idea appealed to me. _Take your pleasure from me, Edward_.

With another dexterous flick of his wrist he was doing something magical against my pelvic bone, and I screamed a loud, "FUCCK!" as I clenched down on him, having a patented Edward Cullen donated orgasm.

I had barely come down from my high when I felt Edward face pressing into the hair spilling down my neck. His fingers withdrew from my dripping hole while his spare arm cam down to lock tightly around my waist.

"Reach up and hold onto the head board, please. Both hands."

Thank you, God, Buddha, Super-man, the Academy, genie of the lamp.

I raised both arms above my head, grabbing one of the leather-bound bars that made up Edward's expensive bed head in both hands.

"Very good, Bella," he purred his approval at me.

His face had burrowed through the curtain of my hair so he could have his open mouth against the sensitive skin at the base of my neck, and I could feel his hot breath on my there as he added in a whisper, "lying there like that, powerless, defenseless…you belong to me."

I moaned out loudly, agreeing wordlessly and whole-heartedly.

Then, holding my hips apart, Edward pierced himself inside me, filling me to the brim in one go and letting out a sobbing sound into my neck. I barely had time to appreciate the simple perfection of Edward fitting so perfectly in me before he was moving us. He used the arm around my waist and the hand holding my hips open to manipulate me on and off his cock, ramming his pelvis back and forth at the same time, as if even the dual actions couldn't get him in me fast enough, hard enough, deep enough. It was easy to tell that last night he hadn't used even a half of the amount of force he was using now.

"Shit…" I gasped, the poster girl for articulacy, and began to move my hips back without Edward's guidance, using the hand around the headboard as leverage. He started grunting over and over as I met his slamming cock, bring the hand that was around my hip up to my clit.

I thought he would rub it with his thumb like he had before, drawing me into a sensual and slow storm of release; instead, he fingered open my folds and began violently tugging the sensitive bundle of skin and nerves with each pump of his savage cock.

"You cum for me…" he commanded in a possessed voice. Every order he gave me seemed to increase my arousal ten-fold, and I made a mental note to tell him to keep that shit up. I was on the brim already, but when he suddenly bit down on the back of my neck, his teeth sinking into my skin and his mouth sucking hard, it tipped me over the edge.

I came over his glorious cock, and he roared my name in relief as he twitched and spilled his seed inside me, having held back his orgasm until I came first.

After a minute Edward gently eased himself out of me, making the same hissing sound of protest he had last night. I couldn't blame him – I enjoyed having Edward fill me as much as he enjoyed doing the filling. Though now I think I understood the expression "fucked raw". I had totally just been fucked raw and was looking forward to many such occurrences in my immediate future.

I could feel him trembling against my back as he came down from his orgasm, his stuttering breathing blowing hotly against my neck and shoulders. I was still frozen in place, my fingers clinging onto the headboard as I gasped for breath.

Whoa. I thought the first time had been special; but that then had been pure lust. Pure Edward wanting me so badly he was sobbing as he took me. I could feel a stinging sensation on my neck and knew he had marked me with his teeth, and I had never been happier about a bruise. I'd have to return the favor.

Apparently Edward wasn't as happy with the whole experience as I was, because when I unlocked my fingers from around the headboard, wincing because I had been holding on so tight, he suddenly shot up so he was kneeling over me, a horrified look on his face. I rolled over onto my back so I could face him, grimacing again at the pain between my legs, which was an instinctual response I probably should have tried to control.

I'd never seen Edward ramble before, but he began now, as he held my hands in his and rubbed them soothingly. His eyes were dancing over my naked form, not in appreciation, but as if looking for physical signs of injury. That pissed me off a little. I mean, _hello_, I have abs gained from having to work out with Alice. That shit was torture; he could take a second to at least ogle me a little. Not to mention my boobs – the ones he had lavished so wonderfully the last two days – were staring him right in the face.

"I'm so sorry, it's just that I was, um, having such wonderful dreams about you, and then you were actually _there_ when I woke up, and I didn't even think. Are you hurt? I barely even checked if you were ready before I took you." I tried to open my mouth to tell him I was fine, but he was already interrupting me.

"How badly did I hurt you?" Edward looked down at himself, causing my eyes to flicker over the currently sated instrument of perfection between his legs, too. "I'm not exactly built for innocence. I know it hurt. Please tell me how bad it is."

He was shame-faced, sad at the idea that he could have caused me pain. Though I wanted to comfort him, the fact of the matter was – my affections now belonged to another.

"Look, Edward," I told him, raising his eyes to mine by grasping his chin firmly. He looked troubled, but understanding, at my cold tone. "If you ever do that again I'm going to have to end our relationship."

"No, please." Edward breathed, his hands groping my shoulders as stared into my eyes distraughtly, "I'm sorry, I'll never harm you again. I won't touch you at all, if you want. Just don't go, please?"

Edward's hands left my shoulders when he realized he was already contradicting himself. He balled them into fists that he dug into his hips, obviously resisting the urge just to grab me and hold me like he did last night, to keep me with him.

Oh god, I really did love him.

I gave him a stern look, though he had ruined all my fun by taking me so seriously. It reminded me of when we had been in the elevator a few weeks ago and I had told him to stop kissing me. Before I explained it was only because I wanted to be in control at the time, he had looked like someone was ripping out his insides with a potato peeler. I had thought I had imagined it then, but it was clear from the way his eyes almost seemed on the verge of watering now that I hadn't.

It made no sense to me. From what I could tell from all my talks with Emmett and Jasper, Edward had grown up in a loving, stable home. He had no reason to become too attached to someone he barely knew, or to have abandonment issues. I knew for a fact that no woman had ever left him – besides his last girlfriend; and that had only been because he had been screaming someone else's name (Mine! Squee!) through all the good stuff.

But then the answer hit me.

Lighting bolt.

Motherfucking epiphany.

"Bella," Edward gasped, after a minute, while I still must have been frozen in stern mode. "Please, don't go, okay? Stay. Okay, Bella?"

Edward Cullen _loved me back_.

He may not know it, he may think this is just another one of his endless fucks, but that man was so attached to me he couldn't handle me telling him "stop" after just a few kisses, let alone me telling him goodbye after last night. I wanted to dance around singing "ding-dong the witch is dead", and though it wasn't really contextual I couldn't think of a more celebratory song right now.

Instead I let my stern-face rise up into a cheeky smirk and explained to him, "I wasn't talking about the insanely hot rough sex we just had – I want to be doing lots more of _that _in the future." Edward faced registered surprise, but the hurt didn't leave him, as if he thought my not being sorry about him boning me was a cruel trick.

"I was talking about you insulting that wonderful cock of yours." I scoffed at him. "Pfft. Not exactly built for innocence? Who cares about that when little Eddie is perfect in everyway?"

Edward seemed to take a minute to register that I was messing with him, and then he was pouncing on me, rolling himself between my legs and angrily kissing every inch of my face. I don't know how soft pecks on the face could be angry, but Edward managed it. He was making it clear that he was insanely relieved I wasn't leaving him, but that he was furious I'd joke about it in the first place.

"Don't." he placed a hard kiss on my lips.

"Joke." Another.

"About." Another.

"That." Another.

"Again." His tongue pushed past my unresisting lips, heedless of morning breath or any other obstacle in his way, running over my teeth, the floor and roof of my mouth, tugging at my tongue until I responded, rubbing it against his.

"Promise me," he growled (so angrily that it 90% turned me on, 10% scared the shit out of me), as he moved back to open mouth pecks so we could catch our breath. "You fucking promise me."

"I-" His mouth was apparently not as interested in an answer as the rest of him, because it slanted over mine again as I tried to respond, his tongue thrusting in and out in an imitation of the act we had just performed.

I let out a little whimper of need, which seemed to bring him back to his senses. Edward pulled away and buried his head in my neck breathing heavily. After a minute he spoke.

"I'm sorry. I overreacted. I'm usually not so…" he paused, searching for the right word to describe himself.

_In love?_ I supplied in my own head.

"…Dark. Or possessive. I'll try to stop." His voice was stiff and reluctant, as if he didn't think he _could_ stop. And honestly? I didn't want him to.

"No insulting your penis from now on?" I checked, earning a raised head and the beginnings of a crooked smile.

"You know, Miss. Swan, I'm starting to think you like _it_ more then _me_." He told me in mock horror, his crooked smile now looking all kinds of smug. Well, with junk like that, I couldn't really blame the guy.

"You could be on to something, Mr. Cullen." I told him very seriously, taping my chin in thought.

Edward groaned, rolling off me and onto his back, just as I felt his cock twitch against my hip.

"Fuck, Bella, every time you call me that I want to do some very R-rated things to you and if I start them now we'll never make it to work and I don't want to hurt you again." He told me in one breath, his arm over his eyes and his cock standing at half-mast already.

I wanted to ask him whether that applied to _every _time I'd called him Mr. Cullen in the past five months, but figured that was a torture best saved for when we were at work.

"Guess I'm showering alone then," I giggled at his expense, earning me a warning growl from under his arm.

I got up, actually seeing his whole body stiffen at the idea of me dancing around his room naked, and posed in the doorway of his bathroom, hip thrust out and one arm crossed under my breasts, holding the other arm.

"Hey." I called, waiting for him as he reluctantly uncovered his eyes and turned his head to look at me.

His cock seemed to be a whole lot bigger then when I had last peeked at it, and his eyes roamed freely up and down me.

"Yes, Angel?" He asked, purring at me.

"I enjoyed every second of it." I promised him, earning me a joyously grateful smile.

He totally loved me.

Nah-Nah-Nah-Nah-Nah.

**

* * *

Yes, I know it's short, no need to point that out in a review! But you will be getting an update possibly tomorrow night, so hold out!**

**Reviews = Update.**

**Also, HOW COOL IS THE NEW MOON OFFICAL POSTER?! Rob is sex on a fucking stick! Feel free to write a review about _that_, cause I could talk about it all day!!!**


	25. Lobotomy

**From your reviews I'm gathering we all love the new poster?**

**But you can't really blame us, with Rob's jaw line!**

**150 Reviews=Update.**

**

* * *

BPOV.**

I expected Edward to be ridiculously moody after the semi-real fight we had. But when I got out of the shower the man was already dressed in a suit (a perfect charcoal grey today), his hair wet from his own shower (I immediately imagined him jerking off in there), scrambling eggs and whistling the tune to _Cabaret_.

One night of sex and he was actually whistling show tunes. How cliché is that?

Edward had already set two places on the breakfast counter, with a glass of orange juice and a stack of buttered toast. Not for the first time, I marveled at how easy it was for men. I had barely had time fix my hair and make-up, let alone make a perfect breakfast for two.

I came up behind him and quickly covered his eyes with my hands. "Guess who?" I asked him, feeling his unfairly long eyelashes flutter against my palm.

His body automatically relaxed back into mine as he replied, in a deadpan voice, "Mmm, Rosalie, thank God you're back, I just got rid of that annoying friend of yours – Bella, I think her name was."

"In a good mood are we?" I huffed, allowing him to turn so my hands were linked around his neck. Edward smiled brightly at me placing a kiss on the tip of my nose. A motherfucking loving kiss, if I don't say so myself.

"Breakfast!" He answered me happily, grabbing my hand and leading me to one of the leather stools. As he pushed me in and started putting toast and eggs onto my plate, he began explaining his schedule for the rest of the morning in a fake, overtly pompous tone.

"As I am exceptionally bright and happen to be incredibly talented at calculating the maximum efficiency out of my employees, I've scheduled us ten minutes to eat these eggs, leaving us a good twenty minutes for me to feel you up before we need to leave, paying particular attention to that luscious ass – which I feel has been sorely neglected."

I gave him a dryly-amused look as he sat next to me, both of us facing the counter. "And I take it in this scenario, I'm the employee being exploited for maximum _productivity_?"

He had his legs spread, and one of his feet hooked around the back of my legs, so he could swing them back and forth like we were two shy kids in a school cafeteria, playing footsy for the first time. It was a surprisingly coy, cute gesture, and he gave me a sheepish look after he began rocking us back and forth.

"That's correct, m'darling." Edward answered, grinning winningly at me, between his impatient inhaling of his food. "In this case, your "productivity" is going to involve me pinning you to a wall and using a hold on you ass to grind that sweet little pussy against me."

I choked on my toast, feeling myself flush with arousal. Geesh, how could he be embarrassed swinging our legs together when he could say stuff like that to me? Edward laughed at my chagrin, and I swore I'd pay _Mr. Cullen_ back today.

"You just wait and see the plans I have for you tonight." Edward chuckled, winking at me provocatively. "We'll be _very _productive."

"I can't stay over tonight," I blurted regretfully, wanting very much to be productive with Edward. Alice and Rose would kill me if I didn't come home and explain how my night went, especially considering how much time and energy they had invested in getting me here.

The second I finished speaking Edward's smile disappeared off his face and his leg dropped from mine.

"Oh, okay. I see." He said in a very small mumble. His energetic eating stopped and he carefully placed his fork down next to his plate, aligning it with his napkin as if it was the most important thing in the world.

"Not because I don't want to, It's just-" I quickly tried to explain; anything to avoid the look of disappointment and rejection on Edward's face.

"It's fine, you don't have to explain." Edward interrupted, still mumbling and looking crestfallen. "I understand if you don't want to after what I did this morning."

That's.

Fucking.

It.

I know I wasn't the most emotive person in the world. I rarely showed my real feelings, scared of being rejected once I put my heart on the line. I much preferred joking through serious situations, like I had before when Edward had been scared he hurt me during sex.

Edward was the mature one, both in age and in his approach to our very new relationship. But if he was going to blame himself for every little thing he _thought _he did wrong, I was going to nip that in the butt. Literally.

"Get up, Edward." I told him, using my best firm voice (the voice I used when I used to talk my mom Renee out of her crazy schemes), and jumping to my own feet.

"Huh?" he asked me blankly, swiveling around on his stool to look at me in confusion.

"Stop looking like a pathetic puppy that's just been kicked. Get off that stool or I'm going to drag you off it by your collar." I clarified, and knew I was totally feeling fierce enough to drag his 200-pounds of muscle right now. Maybe.

Edward's eyes darkened as he angrily got to his feet, practically knocking his chair over in the process. He stalked towards me like a lithe, lethal cat, leaning down so our noses were touching.

"Satisfied?" He asked me heatedly, breathing heavily.

I snapped my head back from his and pushed on his chest, causing Edward to stumble back a few feet because he wasn't expecting it. His eyes were almost black now, his lips set in a snarl and his fists curled.

I was surprised how much his angry face looked like his turned-on face, and then I noticed a distinct bulge against his zipper. Apparently me acting like a bitch was turning Edward on as much as it was pissing him off. Huh. That was definitely something to file away under "things-that-set-my-panties-on-fire" for later inspection.

For now, I simply pointed to the floor-to-ceiling windows and told him viciously, "Stand against the widow."

I had no idea whether he knew what I was doing, but he complied at once, furiously spinning around, marching to the window and standing back against it with a thud.

"Well?" He spat at me, confirming he hadn't realized what I wanted. I had the distinct feeling it wouldn't have mattered whether I was asking Edward to balance a ball on his nose or to stand somewhere. Even in his anger, he seemed to want to give me exactly what I wanted.

_Because he loved me_. I just wished he knew it, or if he did already, I wished he'd tell me about it, because God knows I'm not secure enough to tell him first.

I danced over to meet him, standing a foot away so I could air my grievances without the distraction of our bodies touching. It was hard enough ignoring the heat that radiated from him anyway.

"As you seem too busy moping over how badly you think you "hurt me"," I made quotation marks with my fingers as I said that, rolling my eyes in a very blasé manner, "to remember you plan, I think it's only fair that _I _pin _you _to a wall use a hold on your ass to grind that thick cock against me."

The anger in his eyes completely evaporated before he closed them, like he was praying. His arms spread, the palms of his hands open and towards me, as if he was saying; _here I am. I'm yours. Come and take me_.

The shot of arousal that sped through me at seeing Edward closing his eyes and waiting for me, supplicating himself to my control, almost made my knees knock together.

"Open your mouth." I told him heatedly. Edward let out a shaky breath as followed my order, and I quickly stepped forward and attacked his mouth in a hungry, domineering kiss, my hands holding his face, forcing my tongue past his lips straight away.

He made a little distressed, aroused sound in the back of his throat and his open palms smacked down on my hips. I could tell he wanted to be in control, wanted to feel my body trapped by his, wanted to be the one ravishing me, and I knew he was about to reverse our positions.

Before he could so much as grip me, I pulled back, and growled against his face, "hands to yourself. Aren't you worried you'll hurt me?"

Before Edward could respond to my throwing his words back in his face, I brought my mouth back to his; our teeth clacking together as I practically ate his face off.

As I worked, I began trailing my hands down his chest, then over his sides until I was holding what could only be described as his buns of steel. Edward's hands smacked against the glass as I began squeezing his ass, bringing his lower body against mine so I could provide friction for his throbbing groin. He was making continuous sounds into my mouth, but they were far more bestial now - like he was some sort of a wild animal that had just been captured and thrown into a cage.

Hell, Edward's gasping little noises sounded so suffering that if it weren't for the fact that I could feel his cock twitching against my greedily moving hips, and his ravenousness tongue against mine, I would have thought he wasn't enjoying himself.

I only pulled away for air when it was do so or faint, but even then I attacked his glass-cut jaw line and his neck above his collar. As my teeth nipped at his lobe, I hitched my leg up and wrapped it slightly around his, so that his hardness would be closer to where we both wanted it.

Edward's hands kept smacking against the glass, as he fought the urge to take control of me, even though he was chanting between pants, "Please don't stop, please don't stop…"

I hated to deny him anything, but I knew we'd have to wind down if we wanted to make it to work before lunchtime. Not that we were late, just that if I kept going we'd never make it to the bedroom, let alone to the office.

So I let my leg fall down and ran my hands up from his ass to his waist, while changing the kisses on his neck from hard to light. Edward's hands slapped against the glass, this time in frustration, and he turned his head down, his mouth blindly searching for mine. I quickly turned my head away so we couldn't get caught up again. Edward wasn't missing work for me.

"Don't stop," he reminded me with a little whimpering rumble that almost undid me. Before I could succumb to him I stepped back, putting a few feet between us, feeling the advantages of the no-touching rule in that I didn't even need to pat down my hair.

Edward's eyes, which had been tightly closed this entire time, opened slightly, so he was giving me a horny, half-lidded look, like a predator waiting for his prey to dance back into his field of attack. I quickly put even more distance between us, because that look was hot as all hell.

His fist uncurled and he held his palms out at his sides again, trying to diffuse the heat of his glare with the submissive gesture. I wasn't fooled for a minute.

"Come back to me, darling," Edward cooed, with sweetness that I knew to be false. There was nothing but feral need in his slitted eyes. "I swear to you that I'll keep my hands to myself for as long as you want me to."

_Liar_. I could see that the second I was within arms reach that I'd be the one begging. And as much as I wanted nothing more to comply, we would be officially running late if we waited much longer.

"Work, Edward." I reminded him, "plus I'm mad at you for being such a buzz-kill about the whole rough sex thing."

Edward looked down at his Omega and cursed under his breath.

"This isn't over," he warned me, as he winced and adjusted his belt over his erection. I understood how he felt; starting the hottest make-out session with the hottest guy on the planet probably hadn't been a good idea, considering we had to go to work and act like we weren't about to jump each other.

I smiled at him and said sweetly, "I'd be incredibly disappointed if it was. Lets just hope you can live up to that."

I expected Edward to respond with something equally as flirty, but instead he caught me up in a bone-crushing hug, my heeled feet dangling inches from the ground.

"Oh, Bella," he sighed loudly, "I _adore _you. I promise I won't "mope around" again, though if you mauling me is my punishment, it'll be a difficult promise to keep."

I smiled into his shoulder, and, wanting to set him right I told him, "The only reason I need to go home tonight is because I'm obligated to give the girls a play-by-play."

Edward pulled back to look at me, his supposed adoration shining in his eyes.

_It's love, Edward, not just adoration. Fucking realize it, embrace it, get used to it, bask in it. Most importantly; share it with me._

"That's the reason?" he clarified, obviously relieved. How someone so fucking perfect could be insecure about lil ol' me was mind-boggling.

"Yuh-huh." I told him nonchalantly.

Edward laughed, leaning in to kiss the tip of my nose.

"_That_ is one conversation I'd kill to hear."

* * *

Edward was flat-out with work to do until after 11am, cloistered in his office making phone call after phone call. He was irritable at the smallest interruption, unless it was me, and even then his eyes seemed be fixated on my breasts or legs.

When I went in at 9 to explain who Winston Shipping Co. was and why they wanted a meeting with him, it took me ten minutes to realize he hadn't heard a word I'd said.

Instead, he was gripping the edge of his desk and gapping at the leg exposed by my high-waisted pencil skirt like he'd never seen a woman before.

I felt incredibly guilty, easily recognizing (and secretly sharing) the symptoms of extreme sexual frustration. In future, we'd definitely have to have a no-heavy-making-out-before work rule, because it was clear neither of us could handle leaving things there.

I was just going to make us suffer in silence, but at around ten thirty, when I was typing up a very monotonous quarterly earnings report, my mind began to wander to the _physical _aspects of Edward's arousal.

I imagined him sitting in his office, only a few meters from me, his cock hard.

I imagined how it must be throbbing, painfully aching, _for me_.

I wondered if he might have palmed himself through his pants a few times, just to temporarily relieve his need.

By 10:50 I'd imagined myself into a frenzy, and I was calling Jess and telling her to hold Edward's calls, and that he wasn't to be disturbed until I gave to okay. By 10:55 I was outside Edward's door, listening to him converse in fucking Japanese. Show-off. By 11:05 I was listening to Edward hanging up, and him letting out a loud sigh.

_Don't worry, love. I'm coming. Just like you'll be in a minute_.

I knocked lightly on the door, even though Edward had told me earlier that I didn't really need to do that anymore. Something about my "delicious scent" being enough of a tip of for him to know I was there.

"What?" he asked, tetchily, thinking it was someone else because of the knock. Delicious scent, my ass.

I pushed open the door and the scowl on his face immediately lowered, not because he didn't want to give me such a mean look, but because his eyes became fixated on my breasts.

I'd said it before, and I'll say it again – _men_.

Hoping I didn't look like an idiot, I swung my hips as I sashayed over to his desk, his full attention zeroed-in on me as I moved.

"So, _Mr. Cullen_," I smirked at him, as I came around to his side of the desk and leant back against it. "How's your morning been?"

It took him a minute to realize I'd spoken, then a little longer to process what my words had been, but then he finally blurted, "long".

"Oh, you poor thing," I purred, my fingers stroking the skin (exposed because of his rolled up sleeves) of his forearm, which was clenched over his armrest. "Has it been _hard_, too?"

Edward was shivering under my touch, making me once again marvel at the effect I had on him. His eyes were dancing between my fingers on his arm and my lips, as he leant towards me in his chair, looking like he was about to pounce and as he began licking his lips.

"Yeah," he husked at me, "it's, ah, been a very _hard_ morning."

"Well, as your personal assistant, Mr. Cullen, I feel it's my duty to alleviate some of your stress. Would you like that?" I was already leaning over him, my mouth coming closer and closer to his.

"I think it's _my _duty as your employer to return to favor, Miss. Swan." Edward told me, straight away, more focused now that he had a goal in mind. His eyes were fixed on my lips and his hands were twitching.

I pulled back from him abruptly, before he could distract me from _my _goal with a kiss, and he pouted at me like someone had just burnt down the Christmas tree and all his shiny new toys along with it.

"I want you to sit on the desk," I explained to him, working out the logistics of what I was about to do in my head.

I expected him to give me a blank look and a lecture about how I don't control him, but instead Edward jumped out his chair, knocked his keyboard out of the way and hopped up onto his desk, sitting so he was facing me. His leg was bopping up and down impatiently and he started eagerly questioning me.

"Are you going to kiss me? I _really_ think you should kiss me. And are you going to stand between my legs? You'd feel fucking great rubbing up against me like that. Maybe we should go to the couch, then you can _lie _on top of me…"

As he was rambling, I climbed into his chair and sat on my knees, so my head was about level with his belly button. When I was in place I reached over and put a finger over his lips, stopping his rant. I also ignored how his tongue came out and started licking my finger.

"Edward," I told him, looking right into his over-excited green eyes as he sucked my finger into his mouth, "I'm not going to do any of those things."

The speed in which the disappointment registered on his face was fucking comical, but as I'd upset him enough for one morning, I quickly enlightened him, "I'm not going to do any of those things – but I _will _be sucking on your cock."

Edward moaned my name around my finger, eyes clenching shut as my words hit him, and then popping open when I slipped another finger into his mouth.

"You know," I told him, fascinated and wanting to prolong his torture, "having you sucking on my fingers feels surprisingly good. I can only imagine how good my mouth on you is going to be."

He must have been really worked-up already, because his hips bucked up senselessly as I spoke, even though, logically, he should have known there was no friction to be had.

"Not long now, I promise," I smiled kindly at him, and used my free hand to rub his knee (though that only made him more desperate). "But before we start, I really think you should show me how it feels. Suck on my fingers like you want me to suck on your cock."

Edward let out a strangled moan and grabbed my hand, closing his mouth around my fingers and sucking on them hard. As he did, I began trailing my fingers up from his knee and ghosting them along the inside of his thigh. Edward continued sliding my fingers in and out of his mouth as his hips continued to buck.

I got to his belt, surprising myself by being able to undo it one handed, as Edward continued to groan and wrapped his tongue around my fingers. I knew he wanted to talk, most likely to say something combined with the word "fuck", and I took pity on him as I popped the button on his pants.

The second my fingers were out of his mouth he gasped, "Angel, you're fucking torturing me."

I smirked at him as I made quick work of his zipper, "And I haven't even started yet."

Edward lifted his hips so I could lower his pants, and he hissed when I yanked his boxers down roughly, heedless of the stiffness of his cock. I made sure he was watching as I slowly raised my hands to my mouth and licked up both my palms.

"Je-_sus_." Edward's arms gave out, so he was leaning back on his elbows, his head thrown back so he wouldn't have to endure watching me. He was already thick and pulsing; I had a feeling if he had to watch, he'd come in about three seconds.

Wasting no time, I leaned over him and closed one hand around his cock at the base, and cupped his balls in the other.

"DAMMMIT! FUCK!" Edward shouted loudly, making me particularly glad that my office was providing a sound barrier from anyone else hearing him.

I began rubbing his balls in my hand, tugging on them slightly. The hand on his cock I didn't move at all, and I could feel a growl rumbling in Edward's chest as he resisted the urge to either thrust upward or to shout profanities at me.

Getting to the _real _torture, I used the grip on the base of his cock to steady him as I took just his sensitive head into my mouth. It was already covered in pre-cum, so I slurped that up as loudly and ostentatiously as possible, pressing my tongue into his slit to get a little more out of him. I then started licking his tip over and over, occasionally twisting my tongue around it. I knew from my first real boyfriend, Jacob, that this drove guys insane.

"Mmm…you taste good…" I moaned around him, truthfully – but mostly because I knew it would add to his torture.

By then Edward was fucking mindless, his head thrown back as hissed non-stop. When I gave a particularly vicious tug with my tongue, he was goaded into speech.

"Please, please…" he barely whispered, "Please, Bella…please…"

I took his tip out of the wetness of my mouth and took both of my hands off him. Edward groaned at the loss of contact like he'd just lost a limb or something equally as vital.

"Tell me what you want," I told him, using the purring voice again.

Given Edward's mood-swings I knew he would either be incredibly hesitant or incredibly forward, and he please me by taking option B.

Head still back and chest heaving, he ordered me clearly, "Suck. On. My. Cock. _Now._" He whimpered impatiently and then added another quiet, "_please_."

"Yessir, Mr. Cullen," I smirked, right before I dove in on his cock, until I felt him at the back of my throat. I gagged on him a little, knowing he'd love the play of my throat on his head, and then swallowed to relax my throat and take him further in.

"FUCK ME!" Edward roared, clearly not having expected me to just dive the fuck in like that. I let him enjoy just the sensation of him cock in my mouth, and when I felt saliva begin to gather I began moving my head up and down. I kept a consistent level of suction as I worked, swirling my tongue around, particularly at the head.

Edward's elbows had collapsed, but he didn't seem to notice as the back of his head made contact roughly with his desk. I had to lean over him further to keep up my efforts as Edward started grunting under his rapid breathing.

"Your fucking mouth…wet…so warm…Bella…need you so bad…"

I could feel he was close, so I added my teeth to the mix, scraping his shaft lightly on each pass. That did it. Before I could think, Edward's hands were fisted in my hair and he began thrusting up into my mouth, his cock spearing in and out as I sucked as hard as I could.

He started snarling, making me wish I had enough room to touch my clit, because the desperate sound, combined with the way he was rutting my mouth like an animal was turning me on even more.

It wasn't long before Edward pushed my head down all the way, my lips right at the base of his cock and his tip partially down my throat. He held me there as he released, sobbing my name loudly as his whole body stiffened.

As Edward started gasping, trying to drag enough oxygen into his lungs, he released his death grip on my hair, rubbing my scalp softly (probably about to have another hissy-fit about "hurting me") before his hands fell limply to his sides. I sucked him clean quickly and released him from my mouth with a pop, leaning back in my chair to admire my handy work.

He had a thin sheen of sweat on his forehead, his cheeks were flushed, and he was staring at the roof with a mindless, blank look on his face.

I'd totally just sucked the brains out of Edward Cullen. A blow job lobotomy.

"So," I grinned, when he finally rose to his elbows. "I think you mentioned something about returning the favor?"

**

* * *

So, funny story, I actually had a whole bunch of plot development planned, and breakfast at Edward's and the work day was only supposed to be a couple of lines.**

**But would you look at that? These two can't keep their hands off each other.**

**Isn't Bella totally a saucy minx?**

**150 Reviews=Update.**


	26. Shameless Provocateur

**Thank you for your reviews!!**

**Anyway, many of you are wondering why these two haven't confessed their undying love (and obviously we're not talking about Bella's drunken confession). There are two reasons:**

**1) When it comes to each other, they are freakin' insecure. Neither of them wants to stuff up with the other one by seeming too clinging…especially considering how quick their r/s has progressed. It's only been a few weeks since their first kiss!**

**2) It's a shameless plot ploy.**

**Some of you are also finding Edward's over-protectiveness of Bella annoying. I agree – but that's one of the personality traits of Edward in Twilight, and I figured that was one I should have in this story.**

**150 Reviews= Update.**

* * *

"_So," I grinned, when he finally rose to his elbows. "I think you mentioned something about returning the favour?"_

**EPOV.**

Okay, so, clearly, I had to readjust my thinking a little.

I spent five months telling myself Bella was an Angel, an innocent, my little lamb.

She may be Angel, but she was also clearly so much more. The woman who had had me collapsing on my desk after the best blow job in history was my fucking kryptonite. She was a devil, all the temptations of Hell, the forbidden fucking fruit – every manifestation of lust and greed and gluttony rolled into one compact package.

This morning I had awoken to the feeling of Bella's naked ass against my cock. I hadn't even thought, hadn't considered that she might be sore, that she might not be in the mood, I simply had to have her, then and there and without any delays. Spearing into her while she submitted herself to my desire, her hands trapped above her and her body small and tight against mine, had been the greatest moment of my fucking existence. Every time I pounded into her the same thought was roaring through my mind; _mine, mine, MINE_.

But it was time to accept reality; it didn't matter how much I thought Bella was "mine" in my head, fact of the matter was – I was hers. When I had felt guilty (rightly so) with the way I'd taken her so roughly, less then 24 hours after she'd lost her virginity, she had reacted with a level of heated anger that had me instantly hard.

She – and there was no other way to describe this – she _took_ me against the wall, not letting me touch her, not letting me do anything but beg her for more, beg her for _everything_. Fuck, she had me whimpering like a little bitch about two seconds into her forceful kiss.

Now; I was lying with my pants around my ankles, the back of my head throbbing (I'm pretty certain I'd hit it on my desk when my arms gave out), my cock limp and satisfied, and a lazy, shell-shocked look on my face. Bella was kneeling over me, her fingers running over my hips as I tried to remember my name.

Seriously; I was fucking owned.

Bella Swan had me completely whipped; and I loved every second of it.

Despite the frightening control she seemed to have on my body, my mind, and my heart, I wasn't going to let myself go into this one sided. I was going to own her ass, too. Both figuratively and literally.

"How you doing there, sparky?" Her voice finally reached me as I lay there deciding we'd be having a mutually complete ownership of each other (and as I came down from my fan-fucking-tastic orgasm). The head of my cock was still throbbing slightly, which was unsurprising in view of the special attention she had paid to it. Hell, the image of her sucking on it like a lollypop would be burned on my brain for the rest of my life.

"Pretty damn relaxed, considering I'm sprawled naked from the waist down on my desk at 11:30 in the morning." I managed to raise myself to my elbows (having collapsed back again), seeing her smug grin as I smiled back lazily.

"I'll take that as a compliment."

"It was meant as one. Now I believe I have to fulfil my contractual obligations as your employer and return the favour?"

_I _will _own you, Isabella Swan. And I'll never let you go_.

"Well golly, boss-man, don't do anything you don't want to." Bella gave me a wicked grin as she leant forward to help me re-do my pants. Once I was fully dressed and presentable (as presentable as anyone could be, when it was written all over their faces that their gloriously perfect girlfriend had just given them a blow job before midday in the fucking office) I gathered Bella in my arms and began nipping her neck.

"I'd never _dream_ of doing something I don't want to Miss. Swan," I assured her against her fragrant skin, in my best cool calm, distant boss voice. It was the only voice I had subjugated her to for months, so she was completely familiar with it. I had already decided it was the best way to address her for what I had planned next.

"Alright, I'll bite; then what do you want to do?" Bella asked, running her hands through my hair and taking the bait I'd dangled in front of her. _Good little fish_.

In response, I trailed my hands down from her shoulders at the same time I began raising my head. Then, in perfect synchronization, I grabbed Bella's ass at the same time I began staring into her eyes. She yelped, her chocolate eyes widening in shock, but I was pleased to see arousal follow swiftly.

Perfect.

My Angel had an inner Devil, just dying to come out and play, and I was going to indulge both her natures. Plus, by the time I was done, Bella was going to be begging for me to own her. Which I unequivocally planned to do.

"What I want to do," I answered her, dropping my voice and placing a light, menacing kiss on her lips, "is have you drop your skirt and lean over my desk, please Angel."

To her credit, she shot me one apprehensive glance before moving around me, so she could stand facing my desk. Then, the fucking temptress gave me a coy, sexy-as-hell look over her shoulder and slowly lowered the side zip of her skirt.

And how in the name of all that's Holy am I going to get through this when just one look from her had me wanting to beg? I want to hold my hands imploringly in front of me and be all; "_please Bella_, _can I have some more?" _mother fucking_ Oliver Twist_ style.

Her skirt pooled around her heels, exposing her virginal white g-string to my hungry eyes. When she bent over my desk, popping her tight ass out, I let out a whimper of desire that I knew she heard. Her husky, amused laugh floated over her shoulder, and I remembered her giggling at the Charity Ball last Friday and cooing at me mockingly; _"__Well, would you look at that? He comes on command. Good boy."_

_Man up_ _Cullen_, I told myself, with an internal monologue that sounded very much like Emmett. I had won that battle, and I intended to win this one, too. She _would_ be begging for me, craving me. When she went to sleep alone tonight, she _would _be wet and swollen and desperate for me. It was only fair; if I had to spend the night after all my desires had come true on my own, in a state of painful need, then she was going to be the same. Tit for fucking tat.

I settled down onto my chair, arrogantly leaning back so her hips and ass were right in my face. I knew Bella heard the squeak of leather as I sat, but she didn't turn around or tense up. I'd take it as a sign that she wasn't nervous, but I'd learnt enough about Bella in the last few weeks to know she wouldn't show it if she was.

"Mmm…do you like being in that position as much as I like seeing you in it, sweetheart?" I asked her, in my roughest fuck-me-please voice.

Bella went to turn her head, no doubt to give me a snarky, incendiary answer, but I ordered her sharply, "don't turn around, please."

It would only take one look at my face for her to realize how desperate I was for her, and I needed to maintain at least the illusion of control. Surprisingly, Bella followed my order, jerking her head back around as she smoothly answered my question.

"I get the feeling you're enjoying it more then me, Mr. Cullen."

_Perceptive little minx._

"You might be right, darling." I agreed darkly, because there was no way in hell anyone on the planet had every enjoyed a view as much as I was enjoying this one. "But then again, we're not here for your pleasure."

"I-I thought we were here so you could return the favor?" Bella stammered, her whole body quivering in excitement. I leant forward and began running my hand up and down her thigh, going from the knee to right below her mound.

"Hardly." I snorted, though that was exactly what I was going to do. "We're here so I can punish you."

Her fingers clenched on the desk as I abruptly stood up, making sure she heard to crash of my chair against the glass.

"Why?" She gasped, her back rising and forward rapidly as her breathing increased in what could be either excitement or apprehension. I hoped I had read her right last night when I had suggested we try this; otherwise I could be making a monumental mistake.

"Do I need an excuse?" I asked her in a dismissive voice. "How about you tormenting me before work? Telling me to keep my hands to myself," I tutted, running a gentle hand down her spine which worked in direct contrast to the harshness of my voice. "As if any order could ever keep me away from you. Apologize for trying to torture me, for trying to tempt me with your body and for leaving me dissatisfied. Apologize. Now. And _maybe _I won't punish you."

I almost did a little jig when Bella caught onto my game, and even better, when she began playing it with enthusiasm.

"Not a chance in Hell am I going to apologize to _you_," she told me in a defiant voice, flicking her glorious brown hair over one shoulder and wriggling that sweet ass at me. "Do you worst, bastard. I'm not afraid of you."

_Fuck, how I love this woman_. I moved closer behind, feeling the heat radiating off her flushed skin.

"Oh, Bella," I whispered softly to her, in a faux-apologetic voice. "You _really_ shouldn't have said that."

Then I brought my palm sharply down against her left cheek, causing her to yelp and my dick to twitch. The yelp was followed by a snarl as I spanked her again.

I'd tried various levels of kink with various women over the years, but swatting Bella Swan's ass while she was bent over my desk was turning me on like nothing ever had. Well, in all fairness to those other women, Bella Swan doing fucking anything turned me on more then any girl had.

"You enjoying this, you little fucking cock-tease?" I growled at her, barely stopping myself from humping her leg like a dog. I had to remember that this wasn't about getting me off; this was about her. Always about her. "Rubbing that tight little body against me and not letting me touch it. Such a fucking tease, aren't you? Answer me!"

"Go fuck yourself, you prick." Bella spat insolently. I switched cheeks and smacked her lightly again, loving the sound of my hand hitting her flesh. I was being incredibly careful with the amount of pressure on her skin, but just in case she didn't like me spanking her, I brought my other hand down and quickly cupped between her legs, checking that this was turning her on.

Oh yeah. It was _definitely_ doing that. My fingers came away sticky and Bella let out a reluctant moan.

"Ha!" I laughed obnoxiously at her, slapping her softly again. "You've ruined that pretty scrap of lace, my wet little tease. Given your current condition, shouldn't you be begging for me to fuck you rather then telling me to go fuck myself?"

"Please," Bella laughed, but it was strained with need. "I think I can find someone better qualified then _you_ to get me off."

I roughly grabbed her hair, jerking her neck back so I could whisper my reprimand against the delicate shell of her ear. "Wrong. Fucking. Answer."

I was fast losing control, so I couldn't help it when I practically crawled on top of her, my chest flush with her back. Just one taste, I promised myself.

"Close your eyes, turn that pretty head, and open your mouth." Bella squirmed underneath me, but obediently closed her eyes and blindly turned towards me.

The second her mouth was open I was shoving my tongue down her throat, holding her in place by a hand at the base of her neck. Bella kissed me back with vigor, moaning around my intrusive tongue. When I felt her fingernails scraping at my scalp, I reluctantly pulled away.

"Your going to beg," I breathed in her face, pleased that her eyes were still closed. "Only when I'm satisfied will I give you what you want."

I let her absorb that as I stepped away. The sound of my belt being undone made Bella flinch, her breathing loud and ragged. My eyes were fixated on the curve of her now pink buttocks, so I easily noticed when she tried to discreetly rub her hips together.

In a fluke of timing, my belt popped out of its last loop just in time for me to see her trying to alleviate her dripping arousal. I wrapped my belt around my fist once, so I could better control the speed and strength of it, and flicked it very lightly against the inside of her thigh. This was less about the pain and more about the shock of the leather against her skin.

"Legs apart," I warned her. "That is, unless you beg for me, in which case you can wrap them around my neck while I lick you dry."

Bella groaned in frustration and separated her legs slightly. Not good enough.

"Wider." She shuffled a bit more, and I snapped my belt across her ass in warning. "Wider, tease. As wide as they spread."

She spread her legs, exposing more of that ruined white lace, and I couldn't help but groan out loud at the sight of her. Bella let out a cruel laugh when the sound escaped me, making me once again curse my lack of self-control.

"Think that's funny, my Angel?" I turned so I could find the perfect angle, and made sure I had a secure grip on my belt. "We'll see whose laughing by the time I'm done." I stroked her through her panties, feeling her practically pulsating over my fingers. Bella let out a muffled whimper and I knew she was biting her lip. "You cock-teased the wrong one, sweetheart. Now I've got to show you what happens when you taunt me."

I brought the strap up swiftly, not against her ass, but _between _her legs, so that it flicked lightly against her clit. Again, not enough to hurt her, but enough to bring her a pleasurable sting.

"GOD!" Bella screeched, slapping her hand down on the table and bringing a smirk to my lips. Hell, I'd actually be pretty damn smug if it weren't for the throbbing pain already in my groin. My cock's recovery time around her was fucking amazing.

"Which is it Bella, Edward or God? You may call me either, so long as it's accompanied by the sweet victory of you begging for me."

I kept bringing the strap up softly against her, making sure to flick right down her slit and against her bundle of nerves. As I wished, Bella was mindless by the third lick, wiggling her hips in the hopes to create more friction as equally as she was trying to escape the delicious torture. The black leather of my belt was damp with her slick juices, and the sight of it gleaming had me panting like a crazed maniac.

"Beg." I ordered my whimpering Angel, needing her to give in so I could bury myself inside her. "Fucking beg."

"N-no! I won't!" Bella's voice was no longer defiant; it was desperate; on the edge of giving in to me.

"You're mine and you _will _do what I tell you," I told her clearly, abandoning the belt and playing with her clit with my fingers. "I want you to apologize for teasing me and beg me to fuck you."

_Give in quickly, love. I don't know how much longer I can play this game. I need you so badly._

Bella punched my desk in defeat, making me cringe at the idea of her hurting herself.

"PLEASE!" she groaned loudly, pushing her hips down on my hand, "I'm sorry for teasing you, please, _please _fuck me."

Music to my fucking ears. I spun her around as soon as the words left that hot pouty mouth, not having enough willpower to gloat just yet. Bella had broken first, but I had been only a few spanks away from forgetting the need to have her beg and just giving us both what we wanted - _needed_.

When Bella was facing me I roughly groped her ass and forced her legs around my waist, grunting as her wet core rubbed against my erection. Our mouths locked together, in a kiss so fierce I tasted blood. At first I couldn't tell if it was hers or mine, but after I allowed the taste to fill my mouth hungrily, its sweetness led me to the absolute conviction that it was hers.

For some sick reason, that only aroused me more, and I moaned into her mouth as I thought scary-ass thoughts about just…eating her fucking alive. Devouring her body.

As we strained and pushed and shoved against each other, I backed us up so Bella's ass was just on the desk and I was standing between her legs. The desk was a perfect height for my cock to plunge into her, and I silently thanked Esme for picking it.

I was seconds away from unzipping and just pounding the shit out of her, when my intercom fucking beeped. Stupid-piece-of-shit-technology. Bella's head jerked away from mine and for a violent second we just stared at each other in unbridled desire.

"I told Jess to hold your calls," Bella snapped eventually, clearly just as pissed off as I was. There was a barely discernable slit in her plump bottom lip, and I tried to push my guilt away, knowing it would only piss her off.

"What, Miss. Stanley?" I bit out, after I'd hit the speaker button. I'd have to give her a raise with the way I'd been snapping at her all morning. Bella and I were still pressed hard against one another, our foreheads locked together so we could look into each other's eyes.

"Sorry to interrupt, Mr. Cullen," Jessica squeaked in a nervous voice, making me curious as to what Bella told her when she had my calls put on hold. I hoped it was something like, "_Jess, could you hold my darling Edward's calls while I suck on his spectacular cock and confess my undying need for him_?"

"It's fine, Miss. Stanley." I was at the limits of my patience here, and thankfully she could tell because she began explaining everything in a rush.

"Mr. Cullen Senior has called a staff meeting to go over some in-house maintenance before he goes back to Forks. The entire floor has the be in the conference room in ten minutes so he can make his plane."

Bella's head smacked against my shoulder in frustration, and I was determined to make sure this was the last time Carlisle would ever keep me from this woman.

* * *

Bella had run into my bathroom to fix her appearance, though I thought she looked perfect; swollen from my kisses, cheeks a rosy red and eyes wide and needy. Not to mention she had been clutching her skirt in her hands, so her pink ass had been in my line of vision as she left.

That made my task difficult – which was to calm the hell down so I wouldn't walk into a staff meeting with serious wood. Every time I thought I'd gotten it under control I'd remember the sound of my hand slapping her ass, or how it'd felt to have my cock in her mouth, or what we would be doing if we hadn't been interrupted.

I finally managed to become semi-calm, but I had to get a new belt from my closet. No way could I ever look at the one on the floor without cuming like a crazy man.

As per Bella's wishes, I went to the conference room without her. _Everyone _on the floor was there, some people already standing, meaning it was probably going to be a meeting about who should park where and what was going on with Kris Kringle this year. I had to squeeze through a crowd of "good morning, Mr. Cullen," until I found my seat at the head of the table with my brother and father.

"Edward, you're late." Carlisle had the nerve to raise his eyebrow at me, making me bristle at being addressed like a child, especially considering I was running this company.

Well if he was going to treat me like a child, I was going to act like one. Ignoring him, I turned to Emmett and Jasper, grinning tightly at them. They gave each other confused looks because of the behaviour between Carlisle and me. I wanted to scream the problem from the rooftops, but knew I had to consider my mother with my discretion. It was their decision to make, despite how close I'd come to losing Bella because of it.

"How's Alice?" I asked Jasper, trying to defuse the tension.

Jasper rolled his eyes, easily distracted with the mention of his diminutive girl, and told me, "I'm never letting her drink again. And Bella should probably ban your ass from touching the hooch, too. God knows; you spent the entire night conversing with her tits."

_Mmm…and what a conversation it was_.

Emmett had saved the seat next to him, and I knew it was for my Angel. The jealousy I felt was so irrational that I couldn't help but laugh self-depreciatingly at myself. I was completely screwed. Because I was acknowledging my insanity, I figured it couldn't hurt to point it out to him too.

"Emmett, you mind?" I asked him, nudging my chin at the spare seat.

Emmett let out a booming laugh as he moved a seat down, leaving a spare seat between us. "I'd ask if you were getting any, but you look so frustrated I already know the answer."

He had _no _idea. "Sure, Em, you know everything."

I was smirking as Bella came in, looking flustered and beautiful and doable and perfect. She slid into the seat between Emmett and I, turning to him and Jasper and having some sort of silent conversation with both of them. Before I could ask, she put a warm little hand on my knee, focusing my attention wonderfully as Carlisle called everyone to order.

I tried to pay attention, but, as predicted, he was simply going over company events and personal notices. Bella was far more interesting to watch, scribbling something on a piece of paper, that I immediately peeked at. Luckily, it was a note to me.

_I distinctly recall begging, Edward. _She had written. _So you better hold onto your side of the bargain_.

God, I was going to get hard while my father talked about Betty from Copies pregnancy.

I quickly snatched up Bella's pen and wrote back. I couldn't help the affectionate smile that graced my lips as I noticed the difference between her untidy scrawl and my neat script.

_Angel, it's hardly my fault that you're not staying the night, otherwise I'd be holding up my end...repeatedly._

Belle rolled her eyes and snatched back her pen as Carlisle began congratulating Steve from Human Resources on his promotion. The room broke out in polite applause.

_Well, it's looks like I'll have to take care of myself, then_.

I'd fucking crawl through Bella's window before I let that happen. She was mine to pleasure.

I easily grabbed her pen back to write my reply.

_You shameless provocateur. Do you want me to bend you over this table in front of everybody?_

Bella read my note and blushed a bright red, causing me to nudge her shoulder and shoot her a provocative look out of the corner of my eye. Bella returned it, so we were sitting there staring at each other and smiling knowingly.

In the back of my mind I heard Carlisle clear his throat pointedly, but I couldn't for the life of me tear my attention away from the sexy women looking at me like she wanted me to gobble her up.

That was until Carlisle cleared his throat again and said, "and finally, to Isabella Swan, who's going to be sorely missed when she leaves us next month!"

Both Bella and I whipped our heads around, and I was relieved to see she was as shocked as I was. Why in the hell would Bella be leaving me?

"Isabella and her good friend Jacob Black have had their applications accepted to study in London for 12 months! So sadly she'll be leaving us mid-year as apposed to in December. We all wish you well, Bella."

For a moment Carlisle and I locked gazes, and all I could discern was sympathy before he turned away and continued talking.

_No. No. No._

I looked to Jasper and Emmett, who were looking just as dumbstruck as I no doubt did. Obviously I was going to find no answers there. Instead I looked at Bella, but she was staring at the sheet of paper we had been passing notes on without really seeing it. The colour had drained from her face and she looked as if someone had just produced a real life ghost.

I wanted to grab her by the shoulders and shake answers to my epic list of questions out of her. Did she want to go? How long ago had she applied? Why did Carlisle know before me? And most importantly, who the fuck was her "good friend" Jacob Black?

Obviously she had planned this, had applied to go overseas and study. Mid-year was only a month away; was she really expecting me to just let her go? How in the hell was I supposed to give her up? I could barely keep from fucking her in front of a hundred of our colleagues, let alone have her go half way across the globe for a year with some horny college kid.

The only thought running through my head as the meeting winded down was: _No_.

I was snapped out of my trance as everyone was dispersing from the conference room, some stopping to congratulate Bella on her move to London. That would _never _happen, if I had my way. Jasper and Emmett were remaining behind to talk to Carlisle, but I could see the worried glances that both of them were shooting at Bella and I.

Bella was scrunching up the piece of paper we had been writing on; her expression was far away and frozen in surprised excitement. It was the excitement that caused the irrational anger and jealously inside me to boil; forcing me to swiftly formulate a plan that was probably going to be as stupid as it was ineffective.

I caught up to Bella, gripping the top of her arm too tightly and leaning in so I could whisper against her lobe.

"You're not going to touch yourself tonight."

Bella swivelled her head so she could shoot me a stunned, blank look. The paper she had lobbed at the bin missed by a mile, but she didn't notice.

"Wah?" she asked, distracted, confused, having barely registered that I had spoken. I knew, in the part of her brain that was awake as apposed to shocked, she was wondering why I wasn't discussing her leaving in a few weeks.

_Because I wasn't going to let it happen_, that's why.

"You will not get yourself off tonight, am I clear?" My voice was as cold as an Arctic winter, but if I let any emotions show I'd be alternating between apoplectic rage and snivelling grovelling. Both were unacceptable; I would not have her think less of me.

My words had finally penetrated her daze, and Bella squirmed uncomfortably, no doubt still worked-up from our earlier interrupted adventures. Good – she may as well get used to the feeling. If I only had one month to make sure she wouldn't leave me, then Bella was going to spend that month in a constant state of perpetual arousal.

"Shouldn't we talk about what just-" Bella started in the same dazed voice, as we began making our way to our offices. I interrupted her violently, squeezing her arm to reiterate what I was saying.

"Answer me when I tell you to do something. Now, am I clear?" I couldn't talk about this…this…upheaval. I wouldn't have Bella ripped from my life when I'd just gotten her into it.

"Why am I not touching myself exactly?" Her voice was still preoccupied, and her eyes weren't focused on me. I felt more unreasonable rage build up at her current indifference, thinking that she was already subconsciously pulling away from me.

By then we had reached her office, and I slammed the door shut behind us - right before pinning her to it.

Desire flared in Bella's eyes as I leant in and whispered against her swollen red lips; "Because your sweet little cunt is going to learn to respond to _my _touch alone."

"What if I don't listen?" Bella asked shakily – defiant to a fault, as usual.

Her defiance was a bad move; questioning my control was the wrong thing to do after the news I'd just been slapped with. I skimmed my hand down from her waist and then shoved it up her skirt, grabbing her mound and wasted no time shoving her soaked g-string to the side.

"Edward…" Bella moaned, he head banging against the door as her neck arched. I'd have to check if she gave herself a bump later, for now, I shoved two fingers straight into her tight hole, feeling her clench and contract around them as I probed her.

"You're already so responsive, Bella." I informed her softly, knowing she had no previous sexual benchmark to realize how well our bodies worked together. "No other man would ever be able to get you this wet." I started to piston my fingers quickly in an out of her, starting my rhythm at frantic and only getting faster. "Soon, you body won't even react to your own touch. Would you like to know why?"

"Why?" Bella panted, as I felt her near her release. Her legs were shaking and she was moaning non-stop, eyes glazed as they locked with mine.

"Because your body will know only one Master." Just as she was about to reach her orgasm, I pulled my fingers out of her, her juices coating my fingers and palm. Bella growled at the loss, but I simply leant forward and snarled against her lips, "and that Master will be _me_."

I left her slumped against the door in a frustrated stupor, before marching into my own office and slamming the door shut behind me. I locked it for good measure; if she came in here looking to get her revenge there was no way I could do anything but fuck her against a wall. I practically jogged into my private bathroom, slammed that door behind me too, and slid down the wall until I was curled pathetically against the door.

I'd already gotten off three times since I went to bed last night, but my cock was so hungry for Bella that it was already an iron rod in my pants.

I started to rub myself off as I greedily sucked and licked Bella's wetness off my fingers and palm, contemplating the situation my father had just thrown me into.

My sweet Angel, leaving me with some guy named Jacob.

Not. Going. To. Happen.

Possession is nine tenths of the law, and here's a well-known fact:

I had never been good a sharing.

* * *

**Welcome to the world of Jealousward.**

**I think y'all are going to like him – he's possessive, dominating, and is determined to make Bella his willing little sex slave. I wonder how independent Bella is going to respond to him?**

**What did you guys think of the spanking?**

**And yes, this little London issue will be explained properly in the next chapter with BPOV, so please hold your questions till then. And no, Jacob will not be a serious rival for Bella. Chillax.**

**150 Reviews= Update.**


	27. I Am Woman

**Sorry! Remember when I was joking about failing Psych? Yeah, well, I almost did fail, hence why I haven't updated.**

**But the good news is that I have one more essay due, and two exams, and then I'm your dedicated slave!**

**170 Reviews = Update.**

* * *

**BPOV.**

Alice and Rose were staring at me like I had suddenly shaved my head, braided my underarm hair, gotten a tattoo on my forehead and changed my name to Mother Shabu-bu.

Their mouths were open and closing like they were a pair of goldfish and both of them were sitting ramrod straight on the edge of the kitchen stools with their hands clasped in their laps. It would have been funny if it weren't so irritating.

I could feel my hackles rising in defense of the entire situation. It had been a stupid, impulsive decision, one that I had never in a million years expected to become a reality. It was kind of like one of those; sure one day I'll get a tattoo decisions. You mean it at the time, but in the back of your head you're always grateful when the person you made the declaration to forgets about it.

Eight months ago Jacob Black and I had decided to apply for an exchange program in London. If we had been awarded the scholarship, we would have been given a full ride for one year, accommodation, and work placement. Pretty much everyone in our Strategic Business class had had the pipedream of applying, so when we posted our ridiculous (and slightly drunk) video application, we'd never in a million years expected to get it.

I _had_ completely forgotten about it, though if I had remembered it would not have been fondly. Jake and I had been dating when we applied, but we broke up not three months later when I began my year of work placement at Cullen International Corporation. At the time I figured it would be better to break-up with Jake instead of spend every night dreaming about Edward while lying next to him. Ironic that someone was breaking-up with Edward at exactly the same time for exactly the same problem.

The only issue I had; Jake had taken our "relationship" a _lot _more seriously then I did. We had been great friends before, having spent our entire first year cramming together and going out in a big group of friends almost every night.

When we started…doing stuff, I figured it was a friends-with-benefits kind of deal. So I had no issue happily telling him that we would no longer be able to do the old group-hang-then-peel-off thing. Jake had stoically listened to my no-more-tongue-in-my-mouth speech and then had promptly announced he was madly in love with me and that he had already been planning our 2.5 kids and picket fence.

Yeah, ah…_awkward._

I'd just finished explaining to the girls that Jake and I had applied for the scholarship, that Carlisle had announced we had in-fact won the scholarship in front of the entire office, and had described, in excruciating detail, every single thing that had happened between Edward and I since Monday.

Alice and Rose had been frozen for about five minutes, according to the clock on the oven. We were sitting around the kitchen, baking cupcakes, which I had decided I liked to do in my sexually frustrated but still post-coital glow stage.

I expected them to start shouting about the whole London in one-month bombshell, but when Alice finally broke the silence, it was with a loudly screeched, "I CAN'T EVEN GET JAZZ TO USE FLUFFY HANDCUFFS ON ME, WHILE EDWARD'S SPANKED YOU WITH HIS BELT?"

I flushed a bright red as I mixed my cupcake icing. "Yup…and it was a bigger turn-on then Brad Pitt's butt scene in _Troy_." I confirmed, adding purple food dye to the icing, "but then the fucker left me all…unsatisfied after some ridiculously hot and equally irritating speech about how he owns me, hence why I got you to pick me up from work today."

I was making a habit of running away from work whenever Edward did something that pissed me off/turned me on; purely because it made the threat of physical violence (like me kicking him in the nuts) a distinct possibility. And God knows, I didn't want to damage that man's glorious goods. Alice had picked me up on her way back from work, and I didn't contact Edward from the time he left me slumped against my door (and majorly horny) to the time I hopped into Alice's Mini Cooper.

I mean, though I'd been in shock at the time, I had expected him to have something, blooming _anything_, to say about Daddy Cullen telling everyone I would be leaving. Instead, I got a furious Edward sticking his fingers in my knickers and telling me my orgasms were stamped "property of Edward Cullen".

The worst part? When I got home, I fully intended to defy Edward's freakin' _command _and touch myself until I went bloody blind. But once I was in the shower, remembering the way Edward had told me "_I want you to apologize for teasing me and beg me to fuck you_" and getting myself all worked up, I couldn't do it. I couldn't physically go against him; and that was all kinds of disturbing. I mean, is that what love does to people, makes them willing slaves?

Rose put a hand to her heart, and told me seriously, "Bella my dear, besides Edward's reaction to London, which we'll _so_ get to in a minute, I have something to tell you." Her stern gaze was making me nervous, and her next words only increased that. "Something about the way you've become such a sexual deviant in twenty-four hours, and about this being-spanked-over-your-bosses-desk-after-giving-him-a-blow-job-episode."

"Yeah, Ro?" I asked, resigned to being called a hooker or something equally as bad, while handing out spoons of icing for all three of us to lick.

Rose cleared her throat, and then, with the same serious look on her face, began singing into her spoon in a ridiculous opera voice.

"Did you ever know that you're my herrrrooo? And everything that I would like to beeeee?" While I rolled my eyes, Alice joined in, adding her high-pitched voice to the mix, "I can fly higher then an eeeaaggggle, for you are the wind beneath my winnnnnggggsss!"

"I'm glad you approve," I told the both dryly, while they laughed hysterically at their supposed wit. "Now could we get to advice on the whole London with Jake thing, and the Edward going all crazy Dominant on my ass?"

And more important then that, why I _liked _crazy dominant Edward?

Alice noticed my worried expression, and in true best friend fashion, cleared her throat and gave me her honest opinion.

"This is the way I see things: You think Edward is in love with you – and if the looks I've seen him give you are anything to go by, I completely agree. The reason he probably went all sexy controlling Edward on you is because he was freaked out about you leaving and wanted to try and assure himself of your relationship – even if it was just the physical side of it. Typical man-evolved-from-ape behavior."

"I concur, my dear Watson." Rose said, in her best snooty Sherlock Holmes impression. "But I'd love to know what you mean by "issue" when it comes to London. Don't get me wrong, the idea of one of the Three Musketeers leaving sucks, and we'll have to sit down with Jakey-Poo and tell him to keep his paws to himself, but I would consider it more of an opportunity then a punishment?"

I squirmed under both of their knowing looks. So _what _if I didn't want to go to London because of Edward? It wasn't like me turning down some huge scholarship for a crush. It was so much more then that; I was completely in love. What would be the point of having this "opportunity" if I was completely miserable the entire year?

Then I wondered what my parents would think of me turning this down because I was too busy wanting my boss to bone me. The beginnings of guilt, and the continuation of killer friggin' confusion hit my like a Mac truck, and I knew I would have to sleep on this before even the smallest amount of clarity occurred.

So, thus cementing my title of the Queen of Avoidance, I mumbled to the girls, "can we just discuss how I'm supposed to react to Edward, _please_? I don't want him thinking he can get away with leaving me all…" I waved my hand to explain what I meant, instead of outright saying "wet and swollen".

Rose and Alice shot me devious, evil, conniving smirks, and I was once again grateful I had their expertise to fall back on.

"Oh Bella, Bella, not-so-innocent Bella," Rose sang to me, licking up the rest of her icing with a wink, "dealing with Edward is going to be the easy part. Trust me, by the time we come up with a plan, you'll be dancing around singing "I am Woman.""

Alrighty then.

I am Woman.

Hear me roar.

* * *

I was more then a little shocked when Edward answered his phone on the second ring.

I mean, it _was_ 2 am; you'd think he would have to groggily rollover and find his mobile. Even I was in bed. Instead, he answered, sounding wide-awake and desperate.

"Bella" He breathed, before I could get a word in edge-wise.

He sounded like a man genuflecting before the pearly gates of Heaven. Relieved and in awe, all because I'd call to torture him three and a half hours before he had to get up for work.

I was still shocked that he'd picked-up straightaway, and I must have paused too long, because he asked for me again, sounding more desperate now that I'd missed his first greeting.

"Bella, Angel?" As I listened to his throaty little whisper, I realized he had slightly slurred my name.

"Are you drunk?" I asked, peeved at the idea that he had gone out and had a good time when I'd spent all night worked-up and irritable. The idea the girls had given me for the next time I got him alone was sounding better by the second.

"Mostly." He agreed, still in the whispering, reverent voice and making me wonder how someone can be "mostly" sloshed. Insane, and illogical jealousy also kicked in, and I wondered if he was whispering because there was someone sleeping next to him.

"Well don't let me keep you from your party or whatever," I snapped, fully intending to hang-up. But his bitter laughter rang through the phone before I could make a move.

"It's a party of one, sweetheart." He cooed quietly, after letting out another harsh laugh. "A pity party, with Edward Cullen as the guest of honor."

Ok_aaa_y then.

"I'd ask what's got your knickers in a twist, but I'd too busy dealing with my own knickers problems." I retorted, and then promptly cringed at my repeated use of the word "knickers".

"Sorry about that." Edward said quickly, and what was more surprising was that he actually sounded remorseful. "I shouldn't have treated you like that…or left you there. I was just reacting off instinct and I-"

I interrupted him there rather quickly. "Instinct? Your instinct told you to pin me against a door, bring me to the brink of orgasm, and tell me that you were going to ruin me for all other men?"

Edward coughed in what could either be shame or amusement or both. I heard the rustle of fabric and what sounded like a couch groaning under his weight.

"Yes." He slurred, once he had gotten comfortable, "I wanted to…to… _mark_ you as mine. I'm sorry. Please forgive my animalistic behavior."

"Geez." I said, rolling over and propping my head up in my hand. "When you apologize so sincerely it almost makes me want to forget the reason I'm calling you at two in the morning."

"Is that the time?" Edward asked, sounding genuinely bemused. "Why are you up so late?"

"Well," I began, in my best singsong voice. "My jerk of a boyfriend told me I couldn't get myself off, so I decided to call him as punishment and make him listen while I did just that."

There was a long pause where I could hear his breathing deepen and become faster. Then I heard the sound of ice clinking in a glass, and him taking a large swallow of whatever it was he was drinking.

Finally, he croaked, "Can't you wait for me, my Angel? I'll come over right now and…please you."

_Fuck_. That was the second time Edward had offered to "please me", and just like last time, it got me to an Austin Power's level of randy. But really, even though Volvo's may be safe cars, I'm pretty certain Edward was blowing the legal drinking limit way out of the water.

So instead, more then ready to begin the show, I dropped my voice to a throaty whisper and told him, "I'd take you up on that, but there's only so much of that big cock of yours I can handle in one day." I heard him swear under his breath and I giggled beatifically. "Your good at the process of deduction, sweetheart, why don't you tell me why that is?"

I heard him slam his glass down on what sounded like wood, and then he replied in a ragged voice, "Because you're so fucking tight."

"And…" I drawled. I was lying naked in bed, having anticipated a little dirty talking Edward, so I easily rolled onto my back and began rubbing my own breasts in my free hand.

"And…I'm not exactly average size," Edward growled, and then he blurted the next part quickly, as if it turned him on but he was ashamed to admit it, "and I fucked you so _hard_ this morning."

"Mmm." I agreed. "Now, I think you should tell me where you are exactly."

"I'm in the library on the couch." Edward told me, his voice excited and deep with arousal, "Where are you? What are you wearing?"

Wow, I never would have thought that cliché question would sound so sexy.

But then again, Edward could read the user manual to my dishwasher, and it would still sound all come-hither in his velvety voice.

"I'm lying in bed, completely naked and exploring my body." I told him, as I deftly switched my phone to speaker and left it on the pillow near my head.

I guess that phone-sex voice was finally reaching its true potential, because Edward exhaled loudly, and I heard fabric shifting followed by a low hiss.

"I'm so hard for you, Bella." He growled at me, "Just from hearing your voice. Tell me exactly what you're doing, please."

Ladies and gentlemen, Calm Talking Edward has just made his first appearance for the night.

"Right now I'm massaging my breasts and remembering how good it felt to have you mouth on them." I trailed my other hand down to my clit and began rubbing it, feeling the jolts of sensation shoot through me.

When I described that to him, I heard the rustling of fabric again, and I imagined him, sprawled on his couch, the fire casting shadows on his bare chest and his cock, which would be arrogant and standing at attention.

"_F-fuck_." He groaned under his breath. "Do you want me to tell you what I'm going to do to you tomorrow night, Angel?"

"Oh-no," I chided, though the telling-him-off lost its overall effect when I moaned softly. "You're not going to do anything to me. I think it's only fair if I'm in control tomorrow night, considering what you did today?"

"Yes," he agreed fervently, and I swore I could hear to sound of skin against skin. Having been privy to Edward jerking off once before, I knew he didn't go easy on himself. "I'll be your slave for a night." He gave a desperate, desolate, groan, and added, "I'll be your slave_ always_."

"Edward," I scolded, even as his words had my heart and abdominal muscles contracting, "Are you touching you cock?"

"Y-Yes." He groaned raggedly, I could hear his hand picking up, almost as if he was presuming I was going to make him stop.

"Well this _was _supposed to be about me…" I trailed off on a gasp as I pumped one finger inside me.

"Darling, I can stop, if you want me to." Edward told me in a pleading tone, making me doubt that he really could.

"No. Don't do that." I said softly, my own breathing picking up as I stretched myself by adding a second finger. "It's only fair you get to cum; considering I've got two fingers inside my tight wet pussy. But you'll have to work for it extra hard tomorrow night."

"That's mine." My favorite caveman snarled, completely forgetting he was supposed to be following my lead. "Your body is mine. Your fucking pussy is _mine_. Stop fingering yourself and I'll be there in ten minutes."

Crap, that was one way to get me completely drenched. I moaned frantically and began thrusting my fingers quicker. I was almost about to take him up on his offer (or order, considering his tone) when I remembered he'd been drinking.

"Don't even think about it, Fred Flintstone. Just keep talking and pumping that delicious cock." Edward whimpered, so I expanded; "Did I mention that to you? How good you taste?"

"Not as good as you," he grunted, "when I touched that sweet pussy today I spent twenty minutes afterwards sucking your juices off my fingers."

"Oh God." I gasped, curling my fingers inside me and trailing my other hand down from my breasts and to my clit. I was once more on the precipice of release. "Tell me more."

"More, darling?" Edward cooed, "More? How about how if I had _my_ way, you'd be pinned beneath me for the rest of your fucking life?" His voice became harder, more frantic, and I knew he was just as close to coming as I was. "How about how burying myself inside you, feeling you clench around me, milking my cock, was the greatest moment of my entire existence?"

"Mine too, darling." I moaned, stealing one of his pet names for me and loving how it sounded when applied to him. Edward, _my _darling. "I'm so close…"

"_Fuck, Bella_. Me too. Cum for me, Angel." Edward was grunting now, his breathing as labored as mine. "Cum with me." His voice abruptly switched from begging to commanding. "Cum _now_."

That did it. I moaned loudly as I clenched around my fingers, and a second later Edward let out a snarl that sounded like my name.

Neither of us said anything as our breathing evened out, but just hearing Edward as he inhaled and exhaled made me feel closer to him.

After a long minute I switched my phone off speaker and held it to my ear again.

"Well, phone sex is clearly on your list of achievements." I informed him brightly. "So much so that I'm totally regretting not recording this conversation."

Edward let out a weak and distracted chuckle. "I'd love to know what you'd do with a recording like that."

"Well, as long as you don't make me resort to self-maintenance again, I'd probably never need it." I insinuated. Apparently my little teasing joke went straight over Edward's head, because when he spoke next it was on a completely different tangent.

"Darling?" Edward asked, his voice serious and nervous. "May I say something?"

_Say you love me_.

"Of course," I told him in a voice that was just as apprehensive as his.

"Bella, I'm sorry I didn't say anything about Car-my father's announcement. I was in shock, which I'm fairly certain was his intention. But please know that I'm very proud of you and that I'm," he choked the next word out, as if it hurt him to say it, "_happy _that you've earned this scholarship."

"Oh." I responded blankly, not having expected him to say that. I was surprised that my stomach dropped uncomfortably due to the crushing disappointment his statement made me feel. Shouldn't I be glad that Edward was proud and happy for me? "Well, thank you I guess."

"Right." Edward said, sounding miserable and nervous. He cleared his throat, and the next words came out of his mouth in a rush. "But I want to make it clear that I'm not giving you up. I want you for as long as I can have you, whether that be a month or…"

_Forever, Edward?_

Because that's how long I'd be his.

"Right." I repeated, like a parrot. "Well, I've got to have a dinner with, um, Jake on Saturday to work everything out, but apparently we're leaving in one month from yesterday."

Jake had messaged me earlier; sounding disgustingly cheery and telling me we could "hash out" all the details of "our" trip together then.

I heard him mutter something that could have been "then I have 29 days to convince you…" but it was so low I could barely hear him.

Louder, he said, "I'll come with you," with an abrupt authority in his voice. I had the feeling he'd throw me over his shoulder and bang his fists on his chest before he let me go to that dinner alone. "And you'll stay at my place tomorrow?"

It sounded like a curious mix between a presumption and a plea, and I wondered, for the first time, how much of Edward's seemingly dominant actions came from his insecurities concerning me. Considering how my own false bravado stemmed from my self-doubt around, and because of, him, it was something to think about.

"Of course. How else will I take advantage of your slave-for-a-night offer? I fully intend to capitalize on that shit." Oh yeah, the things I was going to do to him…

"Angel, I'm already your willing slave." Edward's voice was earnest and hungry, and when he spoke his parting line, I could hear the desperation once more, "Just as I intend to make you mine."

Well, let the games begin.

I just hoped Edward wouldn't mind being blindfolded.

* * *

**Yes, I know Edward appeared to have done a complete 180 from last chapter, but poor, lonely, drunken Edward realized he'd need to be on better terms with his Bella if he only has 29 days to work his mojo.**

**Which is why he's giving her tomorrow night to get him back…squeeee.**

**170 Reviews = Update.**


	28. Hear Me Roar

**Olla, loyal readers!**

**There are a heap of reoccurring questions/comments/queries in your reviews, so I thought I'd address em' in one go:**

**1. I Love You(s). As ideal as them just blurting that shit out would be: IT. HAS. BEEN. ONE. NIGHT. SINCE. THEY. HAD. SEX. They **_**will **_**get there.**

**2. Bella going to London. Kudos to the like, five people who said, "it's a great opportunity and she shouldn't turn it down for a man". And equal kudos to the others who said they pretty much turn down the chance to be freakin' Queen for Edward. I can't pick between either.**

**3. *********Shuffles feet nervously********* I've got another fic in mind, and was wondering how many of you would read it? **

**4. And I'd like to thank mad4hugh in advance, because as I said, I'm totally stealing your idea!**

**5. I know a heap of you are msging me spelling or grammatical errors I've made, which I seriously want you to keep doing (and mention where you've seen them, so I know where to fix them up) but I've got to upload all the docs again to fix them, so it's going to take a while to get to them. But thank you!**

**And geesh, you guys were kicking up a fuss about the 170 (even though you got there and over in two days) so I'll switch it down to 160 Reviews = Update.**

* * *

_Well, let the games begin._

_I just hoped Edward wouldn't mind being blindfolded._

**EPOV.**

My hangover felt like there was an army of tiny people inside my brain, jabbing their itty bitty little swords into my brain.

Before I even attempted to crack open my sticky eyes, I spent a good ten minutes analyzing why my brain-army would have swords instead of guns. I finally settled on the conclusion that they were some old fashioned, loin-clothed Spartan army, so they hadn't discovered gunpowder and shit.

The ten minutes after that was spent in defense of my sexuality, when a part of my brain wondered why the first thing I thought about when waking up was a bunch of guys in skirts all…inside me and stuff. My opening argument was that besides the previous ten minutes, I spent all my waking hours thinking about Bella breasts. Or lips. Or nether regions. My closing argument was that I spent all my sleeping time thinking about her, too.

Once I had ruled in my own favor, I picked myself up off the floor (I'm pretty certain I had passed out on the couch, but apparently I'd rolled off at some point) and shuffled my way to a shower, all the while contemplating how I was going to keep my Bella as, well, _my _Bella.

The clarity brought on by time, copious amounts of malt liquor, and Bella's anger on the phone last night, made me realize I may have overreacted the teensiest bit yesterday. Or under reacted; however you wanted to look at it.

What I should have done was give Bella a fake, cheery smile, congratulated her and then give her one of those cliché, pick-her-up-and-spin-her-in-a-circle hugs. _Then _I could have spent the next 28 days convincing her how much she couldn't live without me.

Instead, I got her all hot and bothered (which was getting me all hot and bothered just remembering it) and then left her to go brood in my office like a bad guy in his lair. All that was missing was a comically villainous mustache and a nefarious, snooty laugh.

I stumbled out of my boiling hot shower, and took a long, good look at myself in the fogged up mirror. The man staring back at me looked like he'd gone through Hell and back. There was a five' o clock shadow along the edge of my clenched jaw, my skin was pale and clammy, besides the dark purple bruise-like shadows under my eyes, which were blood shot.

This was insane. I had loved Bella, from afar, for months, but had always managed to keep myself from despairing so grandly. I finally understood what Emmett meant when he talk about my "epically dramatic gross overreactions" to things. When I got home yesterday, after Bella had left work without me, I fell immediately into the library (my comfort place) with a bottle of single malt whiskey and a trembling bottom lip.

Seriously. A twenty-four year old man, worth billions of dollars, sitting in his fancy penthouse overlooking Central Park, chugging a $600 bottle of whiskey, with a fucking trembling lip. I hadn't cried since I was seven, when mom and Carlisle had gone on a weekend trip and Emmett had somehow managed to convince me they weren't coming home. The jerk.

But just the thought of Bella leaving in one month had made drinking myself into a miserable stupor a fucking necessity. Then, when she had called, it was like someone giving me a lifeline in the eleventh hour. By then I had been so desperate to hear her voice, to apologize, to beg, that it was like someone was answering my silent prayer.

As I shaved, nicking myself for the first time in years due to my distracting thoughts and alcohol stunted mind, I decided on a course of action. In that past few weeks I'd made so many resolves around Bella that they were starting to feel redundant, but this time I was going to encompass them all into my future behaviors.

Bella and I had yet to define out loud whatever it was we had between us, besides the whole girl/boyfriend casual claim. In my head, I was already planning where we'd go for our honeymoon (a remote little cabin in the snow, where we'd be forced to spend all our time conserving body heat), but in reality our state of affairs was far less official. Just another fact that I would have to remedy when I was a little more abstemious.

Firstly, as I'd already resolved on Sunday night, when I heard those beautiful, inebriated words escape her lips, I would have to tell her I love her. At the time, I'd been more concerned about making sure she felt the same before I bared my soul, but now I knew I didn't have time to waste.

Somewhere, a clock was ticking, a deadline was looming, and my time with Bella would run out unless I opened myself to the possibility of searing heartbreak. Hence, I had to forget my own insecurity and just tell her; _Bella, I love you, and if you let me, I'll worship you for the rest of my life_.

Secondly, I'd have to endure whatever delicious punishment she had planned for me tonight with good grace and patience. I deserved whatever she was planning on dishing up to me, and in all honesty; anything she decided to do to me would be the sweetest kind of ecstasy and agony combined.

So tonight would be Bella's. Bella's to do what she wanted to me, to make me sorry, to make me plea and groan and grunt and hard and…

_Shit_.

There was _no _way, short of being chained to a fucking wall, that I was going to be able to keep my hands to myself.

Bella had messaged me right before I left for her place, telling me that Alice was taking her to work because they had to pick something up on the way. There were no emoticons or cutesy little x's and o's, and my pathetic mind spent the entire car trip analyzing the absence of them. With any other women I would be glad at the friendly but distant message. With Bella, it was driving me to certifiable insanity.

When I got out of my lift Emmett, Jasper and Bella were crowded around her desk, with my brothers on either side of her. Jasper had a calming hand rubbing Bella's shoulder, and Emmett was patting her back hard enough that I'm sure she would stumbling over if she hadn't braced her heeled (shiny black pumps that I hoped she'd keep on for later) feet on the carpet.

I was used to the heat that exploded in my groin at the sight of her, and at the automatic but misplaced jealousy at the sight of anyone who wasn't me touching her, but wasn't used to the new painful tightening in my chest that reminded me my time was limited. If this kept up I'd be chugging Pepto Bismol by the end of the week.

The three of them turned when I casually cleared my throat, all of them smiling welcomingly but distractedly. It just occurred to me that I had walked in on a moment of…comfort, with my brothers doing the supporting and Bella being the supported.

"There's little Eddie!" Emmett beamed loudly, waggling his eyebrows at me like a fucking cartoon character. "A little birdie tells me that you were drunkard last night, brother o' mine!"

Now, wasn't _that_ interesting. Apparently Bella confided in my brothers about me. I wondered how long that had been going on, and decided finding out was on my to-do list.

In response to Emmett, I raised my eyebrows so high they were probably hitting my floppy bronze hair. Bella has the good grace to look slightly ashamed of herself, though there was a small smirk on her pink little lips. Jasper was looking at me in his serious, calm way, and I knew that he understood wordlessly what had driven me to such a state.

"Aw, don't be made at my Goober!" Emmett grinned wickedly, loving that he was getting a rise out of me. To avoid giving the big ape what he wanted, I simply gave him a lofty look and move towards Bella.

I came up behind her and buried my face in her curly hair, inhaling her strawberry scent like a coke addict and sighing in contentment. Having her in my arms, her head fitting perfectly, tucked under my chin, I had a tangible, physical reminder of what I was fighting for.

_I'm not asking for much, love. Just be within arms reach for the rest of my life._

"Morning, Angel." I whispered, ghosting my mouth over her neck, barely registering the dramatic gagging sounds Emmett was making. "Sleep well?"

Bella turned in my arms, leaning up to rub her cute little nose against mine. "I had to," she told me in an innocent voice, "I certainly won't be getting much sleep tonight."

"Thanks." I told her in a playfully sarcastic voice, bending my head so I could speak around her moist bottom lip. "Now I'll be rock hard all day."

"I like the sound of that," Bella hummed against me, "which leads me to the all important question of whether you're afraid of the dark?"

I had not idea what train of thought she was following, so I shook my head as I kissed the tip of her nose and frowned in confusion.

"No." I told her, scratching lightly at her scalp where my hands were buried, loving how she basically purred at my touch. "Why do you ask?"

"Hmm. That's good to hear." Bella mused thoughtfully to herself, before flicking her tongue out at my lip, sending a jolt straight to my dick. "Then I won't feel so bad when I blindfold you later."

I whimpered, and instinctively knew I'd be making that pathetic little sound _many _more times before the end of our night together.

"GUYS!" Jasper's loud voice suddenly broke into our intimate little bubble, and I could see from Bella's red cheeks, and the way she hastily stepped away, that she had forgotten they were there, too.

"Holy frick." Emmett said, mouth hanging open in disgust. "Get. A. Fucking. Room. Or at least go take care of all the sexual tension in a toilet cubicle or something."

Bella swept towards the door, her hips swinging under the white shirt-dress she was wearing. When she was halfway out of the room she looked back at us, and smirked like we were three slaves postulating at her feet.

"You know what?" Bella purred, as she ran her tongue over her lips. "I might just do that."

We were all staring after her with our mouths hanging open, and Emmett turned towards me with that expression fixed on his face.

"Dude." Emmett said seriously, shaking his head in awe, "you've created a fucking monster."

I couldn't agree more.

"Not to mention," Jasper laughed, patting me on the back sympathetically (faked sympathy, because honestly, who would complain about that sex goddess?), "I think you're in for a night of biting through your tongue to keep from jumping her bones."

I really, _really _couldn't agree more.

* * *

"Eddd-warddd." Bella gleeful voice broke into my pacing my kitchen with my hand clawing through my hair.

"Kitchen, Darling." I called back to her, trying to flatten my hair to hide my nerves. My chef had left a roast in the oven for us, and I'd told Bella to wait in the library again while I warmed it up. Thankfully Robin had left detailed and patronizing instructions on how to do that, as she knew I hadn't the foggiest clue how to operate the oven, a fact that the charming grandmother often rubbed in my face.

I'd spent the last ten minutes pacing the kitchen, as nervous and impatient as I was the last time I'd had Bella waiting for me in the library. At least then I had the excuse of it being our first time together; now I was just freaking out about not being able to follow Bella's lead without dying because of lack of blood in any part of my body besides my cock.

All day Bella and I had been flirting and touching and teasing, so much so that Emmett and Jasper excused themselves from lunch with nauseous looks on their faces, mumbling to each other about excessive PDA.

Her little veiled hints about how she was going to control me tonight had me on edge the entire work day, practically hanging off her every word and gesture. And as if my shattered nerves and frayed excitement weren't bad enough, Bella walked into the kitchen looking very smug and holding a book in one hand.

What was worse was the fact that, while I was preparing dinner, she had apparently rummaged through my closet, and was now wearing my Varsity Basketball jersey, and _nothing_ else. I could see the side of her breasts poking out, see her endless legs underneath it, and I knew if she turned around she would have a "C" for Captain and "CULLEN" stamped across her back.

And Holy Mother of God, that was hotter then the flimsiest piece of lingerie, because she was in _my _clothing, with _my _name stamped across her, and the size of the jersey on her small frame only emphasized my height and muscle compared to her small, delicate body.

"Hi-i there," I stuttered like a gob smacked idiot, which is essentially what I was. "What book are you reading?"

The cover was behind her arm, and I really wished it would have stayed that way, because a second later she threw the book down on the counter between us and smirked at me while making a "tut-tut" sound.

I looked down at the book; already knowing what if was going to be by the frantic elevation of my heartbeat, and sure enough, sitting there all proud and in the open was A.Q. Roquelaure's "The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty".

Why, _oh_, why, did I have to keep all my old College textbooks? When Bella had told me she was reading this a few weeks ago, I couldn't help but pretend I hadn't read it, just because I wanted to hear dirty things coming out of that cherubic mouth.

Now, I had the feeling I was going to pay for that mistake.

With interest.

Scrambling to avoid whatever was coming, I quickly lied through my clenched teeth, "I bought that after you piqued my curiosity a few weeks ago, you know, to see what all the fuss was about. I haven't started it yet, but it looks quite interesting."

Bella grinned wider and wordlessly flipped the book open to a random page, which was covered in highlighter and notes in the margins. Even though I could recognize my writing, I was praying she couldn't when I defended, "It was from a secondhand store in the Village." And because I was really desperate; "We'll go there on the weekend. It'll be lovely. We can clear a few shelves in the library and you can start your own collection."

Apparently I sounded like a fucking idiot, because Bella let out a vicious little laugh and reached forward to fiddle with the book again. It was then opened to the inside of the front cover where "Edward Cullen" was written, along with an identification stamp for the College bookstore.

"Er. Right." I just said, defeated, then because I not only sounded like a fucking idiot, but also apparently _was _one, I added, "I just liked hearing you say phallus."

_Smooth, Cullen. Smooth as fucking ice_.

"Edward, Edward, Edward." Bella cooed, hopping up on a bar stool and bending over the counter, so I got an excellent view of her tits. "I had a great plan for tonight, with me torturing you for a while and then releasing you so you could fuck me senseless."

I leant over the counter towards her too, hoping my eyes were big and puppy doggish. Hoped that they were conveying a "_please Bella, I already want you when you're _not _trying, but you torturing me is fucking agony_" kind of vibe. Her telling me that she would have to "release me" was doing something scary to my hormones, and it was lucky I hadn't clawed her closer to me.

"Erm, well, I'd hate to ruin such a great plan. Lets just do that." I suggest weakly, already knowing it was a wasted effort.

"Ha." Bella snorted, confirming my hopelessness. "Not a chance. We'll have to forget about the ravishing and just focus on the torture. Which starts with you not touching me at _all_." Then she looked me up and down, leering at me and making my cock hard so quickly I reeled from lack of blood in the brain. "And I think you should strip down to your boxers for dinner."

I growled as I complied, adjusting myself in my striped navy boxers after I'd kicked my pants and socks off. I was in such a state of high anticipation that I flinched when I felt Bella give me a pinch on the bum as she strutted back to the library.

"And keep the tie on, handsome." She drawled over her shoulder.

Which is how I found myself an hour later, lying on my back, on my bed and with my heart beating at a speed that should indicate I was about to have a heart attack. My tie was still around my neck, my erection was already tenting my boxers, and I was locking eyes with Bella, who was standing at the foot of the bed with the same smirk on her face that she'd had all through dinner.

"You want me to _what_?" I whispered breathlessly, like a little bitch.

Bella rolled her eyes like I was mentally handicapped, which right now I was, and repeated slowly, "I want you to hold your hands about your head so I can tie them to the headboard. God, Edward, it's not rocket science."

My brain had shut off as I scooted back, my head resting on the pillow as I kept my gaze on hers. Showing her that I was going to be a good boy, I submissively raised my hands above my head, clenching them around the wood and leather bars of the headboard.

"I'm all yours," I growled under my breath, hoping my best spontaneous-orgasm voice would make her forget her plan and ride my cock like a pogo stick instead.

No such luck. Bella came around the side of the bed, carefully not touching anything but my wrists as she efficiently used two of my spare neckties to secure me in place. Even that smallest contact had my breath hitching, and Bella laughed softly as she saw an easy victory on the horizon.

"Your not going to end my fun early, are you my darling?" Bella smiled, as she twirled a third tie in her fingers. I felt some gooey and romantic crap in my heart when she added that "my" before "darling", and knew she could put "my" before anything, whether it be "village idiot" or "obsessive stalker" and I would love the sense of ownership it implied.

"Wouldn't dream of it." I responded to her, voice thick and deep without any purposeful design this time. My eyes were staring intensely into hers, trying to convey, "I love you" without the actual words. God knows, I couldn't say them right now without her thinking I was just incredibly horny. Which I really was.

In retaliation to my stare, Bella raised the third tie and secured it around my eyes, plunging me into darkness and immediately heightening the rest of my senses.

"Mmm. You look great like that." I heard from her, as I breathed in her shampoo. "We'll have to switch positions one day. Would you like that?"

"Yes, Angel." I agreed, because it was the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

I felt the bed shift next to me and Bella's hip sliding along mine, and in my head I was doing fucking lamars breathing exercises and telling little Eddie that he had to hold on a lot longer then _that_, so stop fucking twitching.

Then Bella was straddling my chest and her lips were on mine, and I blindly tilted my head up towards her kiss, grunting when I tasted that Cherry Chap Stick I liked. The minx hadn't been wearing it before, and I knew she'd put it on just to torment me further.

"Taste…good…" I gasped up at her between her hard kisses.

I shouldn't have spoke, because the next second Bella was snapping her head back from mine, ignoring my searching lips. And in my defense it had only been a few weeks since our first kiss, so it was understandable that I wanted nothing more then to grind my face into hers. Even though a tiny, honest part of me knew I wouldn't be getting over my desperate need anytime soon.

Bella was sliding her body down my chest, stopping when she was settled comfortably over my cock. The sensation of her hair and hands trailing over me as she moved was unbearably erotic without my sight as a guide.

I heard the rustling of fabric, and knew she had taken off my basketball jersey. And that meant Bella was straddling me naked.

"Ungh." I made some unintelligent noise in the back of my throat, and then grit my teeth to stop anymore from coming out.

I felt Bella's hot breath on my right nipple, and before I could do anything she was sucking and biting it, making me throw my head back and strain my neck in pleasure. Even through the blindfold I was clenching my eyes shut along with my clenching teeth.

After she'd given the other nipple the same treatment, she pressed her body into mine, her little chin digging into my chest and her pebbled nipples against my stomach.

"Sooo," Bella drawled conversationally, like she wasn't sprawled on top of a blindfolded and tied up horny man, "I bet you were wondering why I got a lift with Alice to work today."

Thankfully, I wasn't expected to answer, and I heard her shifting and the sound of a cap being taken off a bottle. The anticipation of not knowing what she had planned next had me squirming.

"We had to stop off at a…_special_ store that Alice knew about…" Bella was wriggling down my body again. "After I explained to her I wanted to lick every inch of your body…" Her legs were straddling my thighs, pulling my boxers taut and creating a painful restriction against my erection. "Al suggested I buy heated, edible massage oil…"

_Yep._

_There's that heart attack._

I felt something warm and gooey being trickled over my chest and abdomen, my collarbone and biceps. Then her lathered-up hands were rubbing the massage oil into every inch of my skin, putting just enough pressure to have me squirming in ecstasy.

Once I was thoroughly coated in the warm oil (and no doubt looking like a Chippendales dancer) Bella drawled, "now I've got the task of cleaning you up…with my tongue."

I'd been holding back my noises before that, but when I felt her tongue at the curl of my bicep, I started gasping loudly. She was merciless on my skin, nipping and licking and sucking every inch of my arm and I knew I'd be covered in marks tomorrow, and nothing had ever made me happier or hornier. When she was done with one she began on the other, and afterwards began a delicious trek across my collarbone and neck, purposely stopping in some places to suck harder.

"_Fuck_…" I groaned when I felt her deliciously painful suction right over my heart, "that's it…mark me…"

The idea of having physical proof of Bella's attention over my heart had me bucking my hips wildly, so much so that she had to lift her mouth off and swing her leg over so she was no longer straddling me, but kneeling over me.

"Will you stop?" s\She asked me sweetly, referring to the fact that I was still frantically raising my hips over and over, searching for her even though I knew she wasn't there.

I knew she was about to put her mouth on me again, and I admitted in a series of grunts, "Can't…but I'll…try…"

"Hmm," Bella said softly, as I felt her shift to lean over my legs, "I guess we'll just have to make sure there's nothing for you to rub against, won't we?"

I felt her fingers tapping the bottom of my thigh, and I obediently raised them so she could yank my boxers down. My cock slapped me in the belly, and I groaned at the same time I heard a small moan from Bella.

Viciously proud satisfaction shot through me at that small sound, and I could practically _feel _her heated gaze on my throbbing length, no doubt coated in pre-cum considering how much my cock had been weeping for her.

"See something you like?" I taunted her, even though that wasn't the brightest idea in my current predicament.

Bella laughed and grabbed my the base of my cock, making my hips undulate again. "Well there goes the little reward I was going to give you for being such a good boy."

And she let go of my cock and resumed her licking of my chest. By the time her mouth got to my belly button, I could feel her hair trailing along my shaft. I was no longer giving her submissive little whimpers; instead I was hissing and snarling at her like a rabid dog, as if warning her not to come closer while simultaneously demanding she do.

Then as if she wasn't putting me through enough agony, the closer she got to my dick, the more she paused between kisses and licks and nips to talk to me.

"Seeing you like this has me so wet…" and "In a minute I'm going to straddle that big cock and ride you…" and, the worst, "It's a shame you can't touch me, hmmm?"

As her mouth purposely skirted around my cock, I began thrusting my hips towards her while struggling brutally against my bonds, the bed shaking with my desperate, aggressive movements.

Thank God she had the presence of mind to restrain me properly, because if my hands were free they'd be holding her hips down while I pounded into her. Hell, I didn't know how much more of this I could take, and it had only been a half hour massage/licking.

"I need you…please…enough…" I finally sobbed, as her hands began massaging the tightly clenched muscles of my thighs and she sucked on my hipbone.

"If I climb on top of you do you promise to keep still?" Bella asked me lazily, as she rolled her tongue over my skin, easing the throbbing of her last bite.

"Yes." I lied through my teeth again. "Anything you want, just please no more."

I felt her place a kiss on the tip of my cock, making me sob again, and she whispered, "Liar."

Then Bella's weight and warmth and smooth curves were gone, and I heard her moving away from the bed. Irrational, insane need and insecurity shot through me and I couldn't help then feverish words that spilled loudly from me.

"Please come back! I'll be good, _fuck_, please, I need you now."

"Shh, darling." Her voice sounded from the foot of the bed, and then I felt smooth silk wrapping around one ankle and then the other, and when it was firmly tugged I realized she was tying my legs down, too.

Then she was hovering over me, and I could fee her dripping folds on my head, and even through the bonds I manage to twist and turn enough the create a measly amount of friction against her. All I wanted was to thrust up into that heat, and I may have began whimpering again, because Bella gave me another "shh, darling."

Then I felt her tight pussy enveloping my cock, and I realized she had lowered herself onto me, and the other times I'd been inside her it hadn't been this deep and it was too much too quickly.

"Fuck." We both said at the same time, me in a keening sound and her in a gasp. Thankfully she had to pause to let her body adjust to my cock stretching her, because it was all too intense and perfect and if she moved before I gained even the smallest amount of control I'd blow my load too soon.

After a minute I felt her shifting, and then I heard her leaning over me, her hands on the headboard. The tips of her breasts were hovering tantalizingly over my face, and I may have opened my mouth and began searching for her nipple with my chin because she gave a breathless laugh and lowered herself towards my mouth in approval.

Then _I_ was the one sucking too hard on Bella's flesh as she began a leisurely pace, lifting herself and sliding back down on my engorged flesh.

The bed was rocking slightly with Bella's slow tempo and because I was pulling hard against the restraints on my ankles, trying to grind my hips into hers and make her go faster.

I spat one breast out of my mouth and lapped my tongue across to the other, begging once against her nipple, "please Angel, harder," before enveloping her soft flesh in my mouth.

I nipped roughly on her nipple, and cried my relief around her breast when that made her impale herself more aggressively on me. I could feel her tight heat enveloping my cock and the way she would spasm slightly around me, and her ass slapping against my balls, and could hear her skin against mine and how she'd catch her breath, only to loose it when I was speared fully inside her.

I had to release Bella's breast in fear of tearing her flesh, and then I was begging her forgiveness because I couldn't hold out for much longer.

"Sorry, sorry," I grunted at her beseechingly, "please don't stop."

I was growing impossibly big inside her, my balls tightening, and I didn't know how I could stop myself if Bella wasn't ready for me to cum yet.

Then I could feel Bella's fingers at the point where we were joined, rubbing against her flesh, and sliding over my cock on each thrust. I was cringing in the agony of resistance beneath her, bucking like a wild horse and hissing and snarling my incoherent pleas as I thrashed.

"It's okay, darling." I heard my Angel's voice above me, and then I felt her fumbling with the blindfold.

The most perfect image was revealed to me in the glow of the bedside lamp; glorious Bella riding my hips, a thin sheen of sweat coating her body, her face twisted in concentration as if she was trying to add complicated sums in her head. Her fingers were still rubbing her clit and her tits were bouncing with each thrust and covered in my saliva, and then she locked her wide brown eyes with mine and moaned, "cum with me, Edward."

I roared her name as I released into her, so hard I felt like I was ripping her in half, but she didn't seem to care as her mouth dropped open and she convulsed above me, around me.

I think I may have fucking blacked out for a minute, because the next thing I realized was that Bella was tucked into my side, and my ankles and wrists were free.

When she saw that I was in my right mind, because apparently that girl could fuck me into a stupor, she giggled tiredly and told me, "When I can feel my extremities again, and considering this is still my night, I think you're going to do me on the kitchen counter. Does that sound nice?"

Yes, Ma'am.

* * *

**Geesh. I need a fucking cigarette and I REALLY need my boyfriends ribs to heal so I can stop channeling all my sexual frustration into this story!**

**Next is dinner with Jake!**

**And OMG, the trailer and the best kiss acceptance at the MTV awards!**

**I know they were joking around, but even Rob's pretend "kiss me please" face was the hottest thing I've EVER seen!**

**(Ha, bf reading this over my shoulder and scowling!)**

**160 Reviews=Update.**


	29. 3 Hours Earlier

**Sorry folks, it was my mum's (and yes, that a "u" for me down under) 50****th**** b'day, and as much as I love you guys, I love my old lady more, hence the lack of updates.**

**But here goes!**

**OH, AND JUST IN CASE, THE FIRST FEW PARAGRAPHS MAY SEEM LIKE YOU'VE MISSED SOMETHING, BUT YOU HAVEN'T, SO JUST KEEPING READING!**

* * *

**BPOV.**

Edward was pressed behind me; his dry cool hands running slowly over my bare stomach. The way he was touching me made me think of a curator in a museum testing the surface of a marble sculpture; reverent and gentle, as if he knew how little time he had with his work of art, and wanted to commit it to memory while he could.

It was such a light touch that it would have seemed clinical if it weren't for the feeling of his moist breath on my neck, his slow but shaky exhales betraying his arousal.

"We'll work something out." I whispered the reassurance to him, facing the flickering lights of Manhattan's skyline through the glass wall in his bedroom.

There was no response except an increased pressure of his hands on me, barely grazing the bottom of my bare breasts and the top of my panties. His breathing picked up as he kneaded my flesh with more strength. Now the way he was touching me felt like a car aficionado running his hands over the hood of a show-room Mustang – longingly and fleetingly; as if he wanted nothing more then to own one, but knew it would never happen.

"I _want _to work something out, Edward." I said a little more firmly, still too much of a coward to turn my head to the side to see his face and his reaction. All the confidence I'd had when making my point after dinner had fled.

I heard his breathing catch a second before my panties were yanked roughly down.

"Do you?" he asked me in a cynical but dead voice – and then, with more vigor, "step out of them."

I stepped out of my panties, kicking them to the side as I felt Edward's fully clothed body press me against the cold glass.

"Yes I do," I told him determinedly, trying to ignore the way his hands were rubbing the tops of my thighs or the persistent feeling of him digging into the small of my back. "Jake's an idiot, anything he implies about his relationship with me is dead wrong. He was only acting that way tonight because he's…"

I trailed off, not wanting to complete that train of thought (especially considering Edward was already ready to turn around and clock Jake in the nose), but he finished my sentence for me.

"Because he's in love with you." Edward whispered in a detached voice, laughing coldly as he spun me around. Before I had time to blink, my legs were wrapped around his waist and my back was against the glass. He buried his face between my breasts, breathing heavily and avoiding looking at me.

"Who isn't?" Edward added in an undertone, almost as if I wasn't supposed to hear it. As he spoke, he was running his nose back and forth across my nipple, making me automatically bury my hands in his hair, knowing he'd pull away too soon.

Since Wednesday night, when I had blindfolded Edward and tied him to his bed, he had been making me beg until I was hoarse for my release. It had been a magical three days. It was Saturday now, the forth day since I'd seen the perfect image of an oiled up Edward at my beck-and-call, and I had a feeling that after dinner with Jake earlier, I'd still be paying in orgasms.

"Listen, Edward," I started angrily, already losing my temper. I yanked on his hair, rather fucking hard, and he raised his head to look at me then.

If I had been on my own two feet I would have stumbled back from him when his eyes met mine. It was as if all the emotion he refused to let into his voice was trapped in his green gaze. The intensity of it made me lower my eyes to his neck, avoiding the rawness of penetrating glare.

"I'm willing to sit down and talk about London." I said to his Adam's apple, my voice more nervous then temperamental now, "You, on the other hand, are acting like a child, who thinks that if he sticks his hands over his ears and goes "nah nah nah nah nah" then the problem will just go away."

"That's what you think I'm doing?" Edward leant in, so his forehead was pressed against mine and there was no escaping his eyes. "The only woman I've ever loved is leaving the country in 24 days with the only other man who's ever touched her! I'm not capable of thinking about _anything _else, let alone fucking avoiding it!"

As he snarled, Edward was walking towards the bed with me still straddling his chest. My back hit the mattress and I felt the heavy weight of a 200 pound determined male covering my body. That should have troubled me, just like the royal mess my life had just become should have concerned me, but I could only think one thing.

He loves me.

* * *

**3 Hours Earlier.**

Edward's grin was so wide that our waitress tripped over her own feet and sent an empty tray over the head of the next booth. And that shit wasn't even directed at her; it was pointed my way.

"Sheesh, Edward." I rolled my eyes at him, "Could you tone it down a notch? You're making the waitress swoon."

Edward threw the reassuring weight of his arm around my shoulders, leaning in so he could whisper in my ear. We were both sitting on the same side of a booth in the University Bar 'n' Grill that we would be meeting Jacob Black in. It was still early, but the pint-and-a-steak crowd was slowly trickling in.

"Do I make you swoon?" He asked me in a curious but smug voice; already knowing the answer from our morning adventures.

Edward and I had been going at it like rabbits, or rats, or any other animal that had lots and lots of sex. I was concerned about getting honeymooners disease, but I'm pretty certain the reason people get honeymooners was because they weren't capable of stopping, as I most definitely was _not_ capable of stopping.

Especially since my boyfriend had declared this morning, "See How Many Times I Can Get Bella Off Without Actual Penetration Saturday Morning". When he'd decided on his plans during dinner on Thursday, the psycho had even made me put in his official schedule under "S.H.M.T.I.C.G.B.O.W.A.P.S.M.".

"You know perfectly well that you make me swoon," I told Edward loftily, snuggling back into his arm, so I wouldn't have to see the victoriously smug look on the annoying shits face. Point of fact, he'd actually made me swoon so much today that by midday I was attacking him like a fucking coyote and demanding…actual penetration.

"Mmm," Edward agreed, leaning in so he could suck on the faint purple hickey on my neck. I had no doubt in my mind that he'd put it their deliberately, knowing we were meeting Jake today and that I couldn't complain considering the abundant amount of marks he was covered in from my suction on Wednesday night.

Not that he had minded those; in actuality, I had seen that physical proof that they made him incredibly _happy_, especially the one over his heart.

"Why don't you tell me _how much_ I make you swoon? Or, better yet, how _many _times I've made you swoon today, darling?" Edward grinned at me when he came up from my neck. Actually, he'd been grinning like a smug little jerk from around orgasm number five.

"Why don't we talk about Jake?" I asked him pointedly, not because it was a topic I particularly wanted to broach, but because the number of "swoonings" was embarrassingly high, and because we probably needed to talk about it before Jake came.

I had agreed to meet him at the Bar 'n' Grill, an old favorite of my University crowd, and had tried to make it abundantly clear that this was a Intel. mission only, with my cool, touch-me-not demeanor on the phone and when I told him I was bringing my boyfriend. Edward and I had come a little early to grab a drink and mark our territory before Jake got here.

"Fine, lets talk about dear Jacob." Edward growled, taking a pull of his beer, and nudging my untouched one towards me. The grin had completely left his face and I had a feeling that he'd been avoiding thinking about everything.

"Alrighty then." I said weakly, not at all glad with the topic change I'd just instigated now that it was time to actually fess up. "So, I told you we'd been friends since like, the first day of school?"

"Yes." Edward clarified in a calm voice, running his finger over the neck of his bottle to catch the condensation. When I didn't continue he looked up, giving me another proud look at the way I was staring at his fingers, too.

To get me to continue he lightly touched my bottom lip with his wet thumb, which only made me want to attack his ass all over again.

"Go on, Bella." Edward smirked, good-humor returning as he noted the effect he had one me.

"Right, well we actually dated for a while." And there goes the good mood. "It didn't end on exactly the best terms, and I haven't really been taking his calls since then, so this might be a little awkward."

"He kept calling you against your will?" Edward asked me, eyes narrowed at the empty seat opposite us as if he could already see Jake sitting there. Note to self: keep fucking mouth shut.

"Um no, it wasn't like that. He was just upset over everything. He took our relationship a lot more seriously then I did." I explained quickly, catching the hand that was on my shoulder in one of my own and squeezing it reassuringly.

That caught Edward's interest. "How so?" He asked, cocking his head to the side like an inquisitive pup.

I decided for honesty, and muttered quickly, "he thought we were a couple and I thought we were friends with benefits."

I looked up at Edward after I spoke and saw that his head was still cocked and he was obviously working out how to take this new piece of information. I let out a shaky breath of relief when he finally settled on laughing lightly.

"Thank fucking God you're still a virgin! I doubt there were many benefits going on." Edward said, looking insanely relieved. His spare hand unfurled itself from the fists it had gotten into.

"Um-" I disagreed, blushing slightly because this was something that I didn't think I could lie about. "It wasn't um, _only _kissing."

"Oh. I see." Edward's face fell as he took in my blush combined with my worried expression. "I guess there's a lot of stuff you can do without…actual penetration." He said, wincing, and I knew he was ruining the memory of our morning "S.H.M.T.I.C.G.B.O.W.A.P.S.M." in his head, comparing everything he'd done to me with what Jacob could have done.

I felt guilty for a minute before I realized he was the pot calling the kettle black. I had no issue with all the women he had slept with; except Tanya, who had been a fucking hooker right in front of my face.

"Edward." I told him firmly, squeezing his hand to get him to look at me. Once my eyes were locked with his miserable ones, I raised an eyebrow and warned him, "I don't think you really want to start with the double-standards do you?"

He looked appropriately chastised, and whispered an apology, "I'm sorry. I just feel so…protective of you. Please forgive me."

I pressed my lips to his neck to show him it was fine, because there was no doubting the sincerity of his plea for forgiveness.

That was how Jacob found us; Edward's arm around my shoulder, molding me to his side, my hand reaching up to hold his, both of us clutching our beers and my face buried in his neck.

"Hey Bells, here I thought you were kidding about bringing a guy." Jake's husky, yet plainly un-amused, laugh made me jump away from Edward, his arm falling to his side as I got to my feet.

"Jake! It's good to see you, dude!" I gave him an enthusiastic, awkward hug; my head somewhere near his stomach. The boy was a freaking giant. He hug me tighter and for longer then I was comfortable with, and once he released me he kept his hands on my shoulders as he looked me over.

"You're looking good, babe." Jake husked, but his brown eyes seemed to darken to black as they lingered on my neck and Edward's mark.

I didn't know about the "looking good" part of things, either. I was wearing a faded pair of skinny jeans, Osaka sneakers and one of Edward's old High School track t-shirts. I didn't have any make-up one besides my newly favorite Cherry Chap Stick, and my hair was in a bun because I'd crushed it during our afternoon nap.

Edward was dressed almost identically to me, jeans, sneakers, a faded old t-shirt and bed hair – only _he_ managed to look like a model.

The model in question stood up and cleared his throat in a respectful manner, making me step back from Jake's hands to gesture between them.

"Jacob Black, Edward Cullen, Edward Cullen, Jacob Black."

Neither of them seemed inclined to acknowledge the introduction, though they were doing that manly thing where their eyes raked over each other judgingly. It was the female version of I wonder if her tan is real and how much that dressed cost, except it was I wonder if I could take him in a fight.

Finally Edward stuck his hand out, and then they spent a couple of seconds doing the manly tough handshake thing, making me wince just looking at them.

"Nice to meet you, Jacob." Edward said in a perfectly polite voice once he released his hand, making me love him a little more that he kept his hostility hidden. I couldn't help but cheer silently for Team Edward when I noticed Jake flex his fingers slightly.

We sat down, Edward sprawling over the seat so I had to practically crawl into his lap to have enough room. I gave him a pointed look, but he looked back with such bland innocence that I just rolled my eyes and let it go. Jake sat opposite us and there was an awkward minute where we all looked at each other. I was ready to bolt on the odd chance they were about to get into a manly shoot out just for the fun of it.

The silence was broken when Edward's arm wrapped around my shoulders again, by Jake suddenly blurting, "isn't he your boss? How old is he?"

_Great work Jake, way to make this night a success from the get-go. _Edward's grip tightened slightly on my shoulders, and I swore I heard the buildings of a growl coming from his throat.

"He's only a few years older then us, Jake," I told him in a warning tone. "And yes, he's my boss, not that it's _any_ of your business."

Jake opened his mouth, and I could tell by the malicious hurt in his eyes that he was going to say something vicious, but thankfully our red-cheeked waitress came back, shooting my swoon-worthy boyfriend furtive looks.

_Not a chance, bi-atch_.

I scooted closer to Edward, earning me a quiet but edgy laugh from him. We all ordered something to eat, and I didn't miss the snort Jake gave when Edward and I ordered the same thing and then went all gooey-eyed at each other for doing so.

"Great minds," I smiled at Edward, squeezing his thigh under the table to try and ease some of the tension I could feel radiating off him. I gave him a quick peck on the neck again as well; just because I couldn't resist the way his Adam's apple would bob whenever I touched him.

"Jesus," Jake muttered under his breath, causing Edward's head to snap from staring into my eyes to glowering back at Jake.

"Is something the matter?" Edward asked him, his voice so cold that I'm pretty certain penguins could come marching by.

Jake played the arrogant card, leaning back in the middle of his bench and giving me a flirtatious smile. It was still an attractive look, but it had _nothing_ on Edward's lazy crooked grin.

"Not at all." Jake answered, in a sunny, winning tone, "I just remember how uncomfortable Bella used to be with public displays of affection. Always dragging me back to her apartment…"

The fucker was playing the "we have history" card, and I knew enough about caveman Edward to realize it would work like a charm. I pushed myself further into Edward's side and gave Jake an angry look.

"I tend to forget where I am when I'm next to Edward," I told Jake frostily, hoping to keep the "and then they attacked" part of the night from ever happening.

"I'm not even going to mention the hickey." Jake laughed in response, as if I hadn't spoken. It was obviously a façade, because I could easily see the jealousy in the tightening of his eyes. "Bella never let me give her any from the neck up…man, I had to get creative with location choices…"

I actually felt Edward start to rise from his sitting position at that, the growl escaping his lips, so I quickly scooted across until my leg was thrown over his lap and my hands were around his middle.

"Jake. Play nice or leave. It's your choice. I've already made mine." I told him as calmly as I could, even though I felt like I was trying to hold back a charging bull. I gave Edward a kiss on the shell of his ear and he leant into me, giving me a tight smile that didn't reach his eyes.

There was a heated silence as the waitress dropped off our meals, nobody looking at anyone else. We were seriously in a tense little bubble, oblivious to the happy, laughing people at the other tables and crowding around the bar.

"Look, could we just talk about this trip?" I said finally, after I'd automatically given Edward all my broccoli and taken all his carrots. We'd discovered on Wednesday that I hated one and he hated the other, so we were a match made in vegetable Heaven.

"Fine, Bells. _Anything _you want." Jake agreed, being all insinuating and pushy again.

Edward's grip tightened on his fork, and I was worried for a second that he was going to stab Jake in the eye with it, but instead he drawled coolly, "I think Bella just wants to hear about London, thanks. Anything else she needs is my responsibility, not yours."

Then he gave Jake a smile that was so mild you'd think there was no hostility between them at all. Jake scowled, obviously recognizing that he couldn't outplay a guy who'd studied pre-law books for _fun_, and changed tactics.

Focusing entirely on me, he began, "so, I talked to our careers councilor and got the skinny on this whole thing, and let me tell you Bells, it's a fucking awesome deal for _me and you_…"

And he was right. Not about the me and him part, cause I already had the most perfect man ever, thank you very much, but about the deal part. Forty minutes later Jake had finished explaining everything, answering my questions and responding to my unbidden enthusiasm with unveiled delight.

It was a brilliant fucking deal. I'd presumed it was just an equivalent course to the one I was doing now, but it was actually an accelerated doctorate, something I'd never believed I'd have the money, skill or time to do.

It would mean a compression of two extra years of learning into one, not to mention that the entire thing came with the perks of free books, and tuition fees, a grocery and food kitty, free accommodation, and work placement.

Edward had been rigid as a board as I looked over the booklets of information Jake had gotten for us, his arm long ago dropped from my shoulder. I was desperate to get him alone, knowing how he often blew things out of proportion. In his head I was probably running off with Jake and getting married in Vegas.

As we polished off dinner, Jake and I made plans to talk everything through again before next week, though I made sure he realized it would be a phone call and not another disastrous attempt at a face-to-face. That phone call was going to be for me to yell at him for a good hour, then spend the next hour pointing out that my London and his London were going to be sphere's that in no way touched.

I told Jake that Edward and I were going to have an early night, but he hopped up before I could escape properly and pulled me into another crushing hug.

"We're going to have the best year, Bells." I could feel him locking eyes with Edward's over my shoulder, and I tensed even more then I was in his arms. "It's a once in a lifetime opportunity. I hope you won't let _anything _stand in your way of this."

When I got a minute to myself, I was going to come to Jake's house, crawl through his window like a ninja, and shove carrot sticks up his nose. The jerk was just making everything ten times worse.

I pulled angrily away from him, just in time to see Edward throw down enough money to cover the whole dinner plus a sizable tip on the table.

He pulled me into his arms in the manner I'd come to know and love – his hand resting on my hip and his face nuzzled behind my ear. Then without even a disdainful look in Jake's direction, Edward steered me towards the door and out into the car park.

Neither of us spoke a word until we were sitting side by side in the Volvo. Edward made no attempt to start the car, instead leaning his forehead against the steering wheel and blindly reaching for my hand.

"Edward…" I began hesitantly, not really knowing where to start. But apparently he already knew what I was going to say, because he sighed heavily and brought our clasped hands to his mouth.

"I get it, Angel." He growled against our hands, surprising me when he bit down lightly on one of my knuckles.

I suppressed a groan when he licked the stinging flesh, and pulled my hand away enough to use it to raise his chin. When his eyes met mine they were stormy and frustrated, probably with his desire to go back and knock the snot out of Jake.

"Edward." I began again, this time knowing exactly what I needed to say from the breadth of confusion on his face. "Three things. Firstly, and I don't mean to alarm you with this, but, you're totally falling in love with me."

There. If he wasn't going to get it out in the open, then I was. I was no longer worried about rejection, past the point where I could imagine life without him. I got a tingling feeling when his eyes widened in surprise, but when he made no move to contradict me.

"Secondly," I continued, when I realized this was the only reaction I was going to get. "I want to work everything out, and I want to be your girlfriend for as long as you'll have me."

I took a deep breath and made the hardest decision of my life.

"And thirdly…I'm going to London."

* * *

**Calm down folks, calm down.**

**Or, in the immortal words of Shrek, "that'll do Donkey, that'll do".**

**Next chapter is "three hours later" and picks up where that top part left off, meaning Edward pining Bella to a bed!**

**And ****seriously though, how many of you would want an ****"S.H.M.T.I.C.G.B.O.W.A.P.S.M." kind of morning? I know I would!**


	30. 3 Hours Later

**The lovely CarlinhaVMLDM has posted an APPROVED translation of His Personal Assistant into Portuguese, which can be found on her profile: fanfiction****.net/u/1915977/**

**Also, I'm recommending the fantastic BookmarkBella, who can be found here: fanfiction****.net/u/1689349/BookmarkBella**

* * *

_As he snarled, Edward was walking towards the bed with me still straddling his chest. My back hit the mattress and I felt the heavy weight of a 200 pound determined male covering my body. That should have troubled me, just like the royal mess my life had just become should have concerned me, but I could only think one thing._

_He loves me._

**EPOV.**

I have never wanted to kill someone as much as I wanted to kill Jacob Black.

I wanted the bastard drawn and quartered.

I wanted to stick bamboo shoots under his grimy fingernails.

I wanted to rip his spinal column out with my fucking teeth.

No.

Worse then all of that; I wanted an eye for an eye – I wanted for _him _to know what it felt like to sit by as Isabella Swan slipped through his fingers.

It was bad enough finding out that Jacob had enjoyed the pleasures of Bella's soft lips, her warm body, her infectious laughs and smiles and moans. It was infinitely worse when the idiot showed up to dinner and decided to rub that fact in my face.

I could barely resist tearing my own _brothers_ away from her, let alone her ex-boyfriend who was obliviously still infatuatedly in love with her. Only the knowledge that Bella would probably be disappointed in me if I broke his jaw kept me from doing so.

Then, the icing on the cake, the deal he was offering her was too good to be true. Except for the tiny fact that it _was _true, which simply made it too good to pass up.

What kind of a self-centered asshole would I be if I told Bella I didn't want her to go?

I couldn't do that.

It was an amazing opportunity, one that, having worked with her for the past five months, I knew Bella thoroughly deserved. My own petty desires for her had no business standing in the way of her future. I had been egotistical to even consider seducing her into staying with me. My love for her came first and foremost, and that meant putting her future, her happiness, before my own.

That's why, when we had sat in the car park of her old University haunt, I groped blindly for her hand, needing the physical contact, and told her simply, "I get it, Angel."

Because I did; we both did. I knew before we even left the presence of fucking Black, that Bella would have to go to London. I loved her; that meant I was going to have to work my damndest to not let my own grief trigger her confusion or unfounded remorse.

Then Bella dropped her bombshell, that she didn't mean to alarm me but "you're totally falling in love with me". It shouldn't have shocked me into silence that she was aware of that fact, considering how amazingly perceptive Bella had been around me in the last few weeks, but it did.

I drove us back to my penthouse, steering on autopilot and still clutching her hand, my mind reeling as I considered the implications of all the decisions and resolutions she had made today.

Bella was going to London in 24 days with a guy who had fucking winked at me over her shoulder as he hugged her goodbye.

We had only been dating for less then a month, and we were facing a yearlong separation already, something that long-term couples struggled with, let alone us.

And finally, Bella was more then aware that I was in love with her.

Both of us were completely silent as we rode the elevator and exited into my foyer, with neither of us making any move to turn on the light. Instead we stood leaning against walls on both sides of the front door, staring at each other in the dim light filtering through the windows.

The physical separation; Bella on one side and me on the other, seemed like a depressing kind of foreshadowing. A reminder of the hundreds of miles, the bodies of water and land, the time zones, the Jacob Black's, that would all too soon be standing between us.

In two determined strides I was pressed against her body, my forehead resting on her shoulder as I wrapped my arms around her waist. I couldn't even handle this amount of distance between us; how was I possibly going to handle a longer separation?

"I want to be your girlfriend, Edward." Bella told me, her warm little fingers tugging on my hair. I turned my head to the side so I could see her face, one half of which was hidden in the shadows. Once I was looking at her, Bella's eyes bored into mine, and she added softly, "I love you, too, you know."

I had been dying to hear those simple words since the first night I had dreamt of Bella's hair fanned across my pillow. But for some reason, I felt my throat tightening painfully, my heart clenching, as I irrationally thought – it doesn't matter. She would still be leaving in less then a month, and she was young and fun and beautiful. Bella would make her own life, away from me, with the constant presence of the persistent Jacob Black by her side.

Her feelings would dim over time until, in the excitement of her new life, they would fade completely.

She would forget me.

I saw Bella's eyes pooling with moisture as I despaired, and horrifyingly, felt mine do the same.

"I love you, Angel." I croaked, quickly releasing her from my arms and spinning around so that she couldn't see my face. I wouldn't let her see how much this was killing me. It wasn't fair to do that to her; I knew this was a hard enough decision for Bella to make as it was, without me adding my despondency on top of it.

Instead I cleared my throat and told her, "I'm going to get a quick drink, you should go have that shower you were dying for."

Then, without looking at her, I toed my shoes off and headed to my sanctuary. Only then, when I was settled on the couch in the library – which was pitch black, like my mood – with a liberal amount of brandy in a glass, did I allow the tears that had been threatening to run down my cheeks.

I don't know how long I sat there, staring into the amber liquid swirling around in my glass, my eyes swimming, but suddenly my gut tightened and I needed to be in Bella presence again.

24 days.

576 hours.

34,560 minutes.

I wasn't going to waste any of that time on feeling desolate; Bella was still here, in my home, in my bedroom, and I wanted her for every second I could have her. The anguish could come after she had gotten on a plane.

After I had washed my face and brushed my teeth in one of the guest bathrooms, I entered my bedroom to find Bella standing at the window, her damp hair trailing down her back, a disregarded towel on the floor near her feet, and her body covered by nothing but a lavender pair of panties.

I had no doubt that my groan was loud enough for her to hear, but Bella made no move to acknowledge me, even when I came up behind her and delicately touched the taut skin of her stomach.

She was still slightly damp after her shower, and I tried to focus on that, the delicate play of soft skin combined with the smell of French soap I'd gotten my housekeeper to purchase for her. By doing that, by training my senses and mind on Bella's physical attendance, I was barely managing to keep from acting like a weak, lovelorn fool in front of her.

We stood in silent contemplation, Bella focusing on the view and me staring at the back of her neck, until she abruptly whispered to me, "we'll work something out."

I knew what she was referring to; that we could manage a relationship while she was overseas. But I had already witnessed couples that had been together for year's breakdown because of the distance and time. Bella would be going through a huge personal and professional transition in London; she _would _be a different person when her year was up. Why would she possibly still want me when the whole world would be hers for the taking?

I must have forgotten to reply, because Bella spoke again, this time with more vehemence, "_I _want to work something out, Edward."

I couldn't handle this now. I just wanted to feel her, to make her feel me, to show her how much I desired and loved her. I wanted to forget myself in her body, her responses, to forget that I wouldn't have this for much longer.

I tried to be gentle as I lowered her panties to her knees, but I don't think I succeeded when she let out an unconscious squeak.

"Do you?" I asked her indifferently, remembering to answer this time. I was alarmed by the lifeless quality of my voice, and I wondered if this was what I would become when she left; a dead shell of a man. With more resolve, I ordered her, "step out of them."

Bella complied, gracefully stepping out of her panties. I came up behind her, rubbing the tops of her thighs possessively and letting her feel my erection against the small of her delicate back.

_Feel love_, I wanted to say to her, _feel what only you do to me_.

Before I could open my mouth, Bella was speaking forcefully, "yes, I do. Jake's an idiot, anything he implies about his relationship with me is dead wrong. He was only acting that way tonight because he's…"

"Because he's in love with you." I murmured, acknowledging what she would not. How well I knew he was in love with her. In that regard, I could almost understand the way Jacob had lashed out at me during dinner. Would I not do the same if some bastard were touching my Angel?

But she was here, in front of me, and I couldn't help but spin her around and into my arms. I forced her legs around my waist and pushed her back against the glass, quickly burying my face between her pert breasts when I remembered that I had been crying.

"Who isn't?" I asked her bitterly, running my nose along her breasts to inhale the unique scent of her skin and feel the softness of it against my stubble. I almost sobbed when I felt her little hand bury itself in my hair, holding me more firmly. The need in the gesture mirrored the feral call of my own desires.

Bella used that hand to tilt my face up to hers. "Listen, Edward…" she growled at me, but then her eyes met mine and shock flittered across her face. I wondered if she was ashamed to look at me, knowing I was weak, knowing that I had been crying for her.

Bella lowered her eyes to my neck and continued with far less emotion, "I'm willing to sit down and talk about London. You, on the other hand, are acting like a child, who thinks that if he sticks his hands over his ears and goes "nah nah nah nah nah" then the problem will just go away."

I felt my anger at a situation I was powerless to control boil over. How dare she think I was ignoring her impending departure? The _one _thing I had done right by Bella was not showing her how much this whole thing was destroying me. Did she want me to fall to my knees and beg her to stay? Did she want me to make her feel conflicted and torn about something she should feel proud and excited about?

I pressed my forehead to hers, forgetting that she could probably tell I had been crying. I had never wanted to read someone's mind as much as I wanted to know hers in that second.

"That's what you think I'm doing?" I asked her furiously, watching the emotions pass through her chocolate orbs, "The only woman I've ever loved is leaving the country in 24 days with the only other man whose ever touched her! I'm not capable of thinking about anything else, let alone fucking avoiding it!"

Even as I spoke I realized I was revealing too much. When I saw her gazing out the window, looking ethereal and distant, all I had wanted was to lose myself in her, to have one more night before we had to analyze our relationship, our newly confessed love, before we had to ask ourselves; what happens next?

I walked us to the bed, pushing Bella down on the mattress and covering her body with mine. Her naked flesh was warming me even through the cotton of my t-shirt and the coarse material of my jeans.

"Please," I begged her, the emotion too close to the surface to keep it out of my tone. I sounded broken, defeated, defenseless. "Can we talk about it tomorrow, love? I just want to feel this – us – tonight."

I thought she'd push me off, tell me we needed to have this discussion now, but instead she secured her legs tighter around my waist, and drew my lips to hers.

"Anything you want, Edward." Bella whispered against my lips, before she pressed hers firmly against them. From her tone I'd thought her kiss would be soft, a declaration of reassurance. But instead it was frantic, all tongue and teeth and pulling and tugging, a verification of desperation that seemed to emulate my own.

I groaned my thanks into her when she allowed me to take control of this kiss, perhaps realizing how much I needed the warmth of her mouth, the feeling of her hair fisted in my hands. It wasn't long before we were both panting for breath, and I could feel her hands running over my abdominal muscles under my t-shirt. I moaned, leaning into her touch and pushing her down into the bed.

"Love you." I told her as I shimmied down her body, straddling her legs so I could nuzzle her breasts. Bella giggled as my stubble tickled her, a surprisingly happy sound considering the mood we were currently in.

"Love you too." Bella said through her laughter. Her hands raked through my hair as I placed sweet little kisses on her peaked nipples. "Love saying I love you out loud."

"It is slightly liberating." I agreed distractedly, moving down her torso as I increased the pressure of my lips, while adding my tongue and teeth. I could smell her arousal already, see her pink folds glistening with want, and I had to work to not just tear into her. Especially considering not only my physical desire for her, which was nothing new, but also my mental and emotional desire. My body, mind, heart needed to be linked with hers in every conceivable way while I still could be.

Bella, who was so ticklish it was comical, shivered underneath me as she chastised me, "you know what would be even more liberating? If we were both naked…and you can probably forget about the foreplay, because I've never been more ready for you then I am right now."

I knew she felt me twitching against her leg at her words, while I mentally added that as just another reason I loved this woman. Bella was in exactly the same place as me; as always meeting me on an even playing field.

I couldn't keep the wicked grin off my face as I thought of a way for us to be closer then we ever had, though I hid my feral show of teeth against the outside of her thigh. Then slowly, allowing the cotton of my t-shirt and the denim of my jeans to graze her supple skin, I slid off her body.

"Where in the name of all that is sacred do you think your going?!" Bella asked me in an outraged tone, rising to her elbows as I jumped to my feet and headed to my walk-in closet.

"I'll be back, love." I purred at her from the doorway, shooting her a look that encompassed all my emotions right now. Frustration at the situation we were in. Desire that was so potent it was terrifying. Fury because I knew that even if she moved on in London, I would only ever want her. Love, the truest of feelings in the chaotic whirlwind that my mind had become.

As she had before, Bella shied away from my eyes, letting the curtain of her damp hair fall between us. I wanted to rage at her, demand she look at me, demand she feel as much as I do. I realized, with a nauseating clarity, that that was what I had planned on doing from the moment I got up from the bed. Demand her attention – demand to know why I wasn't enough for her to stay.

In determined strides, I walked up to full-body mirror that was mounted in the closet, easily pulling it down from the wall and into my arms. I walked it back to the bedroom, staring at my feet so I wouldn't have to watch the disconcerting image of myself walking reflected back at me.

"Listen pretty boy," Bella said from the bed, "I know you're a Zoolander level of ridiculously good-looking, but if you think I'm going to lie down and let you watch yourself having sex a la' Patrick Bateman, then you've go another thing…well, no, in all honesty, I'll probably let you, but I'll think it's creepy as hell."

Leave it to Bella to turn everything into a joke. I rolled my eyes at her as I went the head of the bed. The headboard was made of distressed leather over a wooden frame, which was shaped into wide-spaced bars, leaving the perfect amount of room for us to be able to see the mirror through them. I shimmied the thin mirror down between the wall and the headboard, as Bella rolled over and propped her head on her fists. She would have looked heartbreakingly innocent if it weren't for the naked curves of her body.

"You, my love, are most definitely creepy." Bella smirked at me, though she couldn't say it without rubbing her hips together. I felt a pleasurable squirmy feeling in my stomach at her calling me her love, and resigned myself to being the biggest overdramatic woman in the fucking world.

I threw my t-shirt over my head and kicked off my jeans and boxers before climbing back on top of her. Bella tried to turn around to face me, but I straddled her legs and kept her pressed on her stomach. My cock was flat against the small of her back, and I couldn't stop myself from shifting against her a few times.

"The mirror isn't for me, little one. It's for you. I want to show you something." I rumbled at her, between licking a path up her spine to the point on the back of her neck that drove her wild.

"Which is what?" Bella asked me, her breathing picking up as I massaged her shoulders with one hand, trailed a path to her thighs with the other, and licked and nipped at her neck. Multi-tasking had never been put to more productive use.

Bella was already swollen and sensitive from our S.H.M.T.I.C.G.B.O.W.A.P.S.M., and it only took a few passes of her clit and wet core for me to ascertain she hadn't been lying when she said she was ready for me now.

"You're drenched for me." I murmured, biting back the accompanying groan and ignoring her question. The battle I seemed to constantly face with her – the desire to take her hard and fast versus the desire to take her achingly slow – was raging inside me.

"What are you going to do about it?" Bella challenged, arching her spine so she could press down on my immobile fingers. I drew them away from her and answered her challenge by snaking an arm under and around her waist and roughly drawing her to her knees.

"On your elbows, please." I ordered, my heart accelerating as she bit her lip and followed. I had yet to take her in this position, fearing it would be too uncomfortable for her so early on, but the look in her eyes, locked on mine in the mirror, told me it was okay now.

"Do you feel how much we want each other, my Angel?" I questioned, as I got onto my knees behind her and began running the head of my cock over her folds, gathering her juices.

"Yes," Bella gasped at the same time I began applying pressure at her entrance. I pushed until just the head of my cock was inside her and reached around to tap her cheek.

Bella raised her head and opened her eyes, looking straight at me in the mirror as I told her, "This is what I want you to see. The pleasure I bring you. Don't look away from the mirror."

_See how right we are together and then you won't want to leave me._

I heard Bella mutter an oath in response, before I jerked my hips forward, burying myself in her until our hips were flush against each other. I grunted in pleasure, the new position making her almost uncomfortably tight around me, _almost_ uncomfortable – but not enough to stop my eyes from rolling into the back of my head.

I painstakingly pulled out, having to rotate my hips to accommodate the vice-like quality of her body, before thrusting back in. I could see the strain in Bella's eyes as she worked to keep her head up, and I could sympathize with her; I wanted nothing more then to throw my head back as I continued to glide into her.

I was moving slowly so we could feel every ounce of pleasure, so I could watch the way Bella bit her lip to keep the rushed exhale from escaping with each of my thrusts. Her eyes were bright and round and full of love, and I felt foolish and insecure and fucking pathetic for not noticing it sooner.

_How much more time we could have had_.

At that thought I began moving faster, slamming my hips against hers, skin against skin, bone against bone, animalistic sounds of desperation escaping me.

Bella's head fell as she absorbed my attack, and even when I took one hand off her thigh to tap her cheek again, she was unable to lift her head.

"Edward…" she pleaded, begging me not to stop. I didn't heed her prayers, instead grabbing her hips tighter and manipulating us so I was leaning back on my haunches and Bella was sitting on my lap.

"Please," Bella growled, making it sound more like a threat then an act of supplication. In response I roughly spread her legs, so she was straddling my lap, both of us facing the mirror. I captured her restless gaze as I balanced my chin on her shoulder, and was supremely satisfied at the squeal she produced when I violently thrust up, sheathing myself in her again.

Looking at where we were joined was a rookie mistake, but I couldn't keep my eyes from the perfection of us together. Watching her body absorb me, watching the gleam of concentration in her eyes as she pushed down on me, watching the way her breasts jumped with each thrust, watching the thin sheen of sweat on her brow – no woman had ever looked so amazing.

"Fucking look at that," I ordered her, my voice a snarl, "Look at my cock spearing in and out of you."

My words were answered with a moan from Bella, while her head lolled back against my shoulder as if she was unable to hold it up anymore.

_Yes._

I wanted her weak for me, helpless for me. Completely mine forever.

"I told you to look, Bella." I warned her when her eyes slid shut and her chin hit her chest. "Don't make me stop."

As if I _could_, as if I _would_ ever stop. Bella tensed her muscles on me, making me thrust up harder to accommodate, as she worked herself up to moving her lolling head.

"Oh fuck…" Bella moaned, when she finally lifted her head and opened her eyes to take in that wondrous sight. I couldn't agree more with her assessment, and seeing her take in the image of my cock sliding in and out of her made me thrust harder, faster.

"Yes, yes darling," I panted, leaning past her to bring one hand down to circle her clit and bringing up the other to hold the headboard, using the resistance to bring my hips up harder. "Look how right that is."

_Feel how right we are together._

"Perfect," Bella gasped in agreement, her eyes glazing over as she clenched tight around me. Her compressing muscles triggered my own orgasm, making me snarl like a rabid dog as I released inside her.

Once I was capable, I gently lifted Bella off me, laying her down on her side of the bed and falling back against my own. We had decided on the sides of the bed on Wednesday, though Bella informed me that I tended to roll on top of her after I fell asleep.

As we lay staring at the ceiling, our breathing gradually returning to normal, neither of us made any move to touch the other or speak, and I knew she was as aware as I was that everything was about to change.

The euphoria of being joined with Bella was fading faster then it ever had before. And that was the crux of the issue; that no matter how many times I sated myself with her, I was never fully satisfied. I would always want more of her.

But I only had such limited time left.

24 days.

576 hours.

34,560 minutes.

* * *

**Edward is being emo Bitchward, because that's who he is in the book.**

**I personally love overdramatic, overreacting Eddie, but that's just me. And any one who calls him an ass for pressuring Bella into staying – IT'S IN HIS HEAD. He's not actually saying any of that crap out loud.**

**And for the thousandth time, just like Stephenie Meyer, I write HAPPY endings!**

**So all you crazies who've decided they can't read this because it's "too sad", suck it up and you'll get the happily ever after!**

**Meanwhile whose seen Terminator Salvation and who thinks Sam Worthington is nine kinds of doable?!**


	31. Princess

**Sorry, know it's been a while since my last update (for me anyway) but the boyfriend's just had his 21****st****, and more importantly then that…his ribs healed.**

**So I'm a very happy gal right now.**

**Thank you for your support with the stealing of my story issue, your offers of err, painful violence, were greatly appreciated :)**

**I was severely tempted to take you up on them, but I'll resist and go through the proper channels.**

**There have been a lot of questions about Bella's feelings/her trip, so I hope this chapter answers them!**

**

* * *

BPOV.**

When I was 12 years old, and I had a crush on Joshua Stevens.

He was two years older then me, had the cutest smile in the entire world, and was one of the most popular guys in school.

I'd talk about him non-stop with Alice and Rose, passing notes about how I was _certain_ he had casually waved at me during assembly, and eating our way through a pint of cookies 'n' cream ice-cream when I found out he had _actually_ been waving at that cow Sally Mitchells.

Then, when I was 13, and I developed a great pair of boobs, a miracle happened – Joshua Stevens got his best friend Paul Jackson to pass a note to Alice in English, so she could give it to Rosalie in History, so Rose could give it to me in Biology. The note was asking whether I wanted to go to his brother's party with him (tick yes or no). Of course, I was ecstatic and ticked "yes" without a second thought, even though his brother was a senior and had a reputation for throwing wild parties.

It was only once I had passed my "yes (tick), love Bella xo" through the proper channels (via Rose, Alice and Paul) that I remembered my mom had a gallery opening that night. One of her paintings had gone up and she had been insanely proud. But I was 13 years old and my crush had asked me out so, needless to say, I went to the party with Josh, telling mom that Alice was sick and needed me to sleepover.

Once the police had broken up the party and I came home stumbling drunk, it was blaringly obvious that I had been lying. I didn't even need the Catholic level of guilt trip that I was given afterwards. I had already been conflicted the entire night, knowing how disappointed my parents would be in me.

Now, with this yearlong trip glaring me in the face, I was feeling the same level of guilt, of confusion.

On one hand, if it had been five months ago, I would have jumped on this opportunity, knowing that things like this so rarely come by in life. Hell, it was a miracle I got the deal based on the drunken video application Jacob and I had made. I also had my parents, my friends, and my professors at school, all of whom were expecting me to do well for myself, to take this scholarship and get ahead. They would all be so disappointed in me if I were to turn it down.

On the other hand, there was a twisting, painful feeling in my stomach every time I even considered not seeing Edward. Sure, he could makes trips to see me, but they would be few and far between; _if _he were able to at all. Edward was running a successful, huge company, for goodness sakes. It was a miracle he was able to devote so much time to me as it was. Even then, a selfish part of me wanted to demand he come with me; I knew there was a London branch of Cullen Industries. But he was going to be the Co-Chief Executive Officer with his brothers; there was no feasible way he could leave the flagship of CIC for any extended period of time.

The point was – Edward was grounded in New York, and London was a long way away. The idea of not seeing him for 24 hours make me sick to my toes, the idea of 365 days was almost unthinkable.

It was Josh Stevens all over again. Except with Josh's party it was easily to identify which decision was the right one and which was wrong. This situation was worse because there were no right answers, no correct decisions. Either way, either conclusion had its ramifications.

Do I destroy my best chance at a future career or do I break mine, and Edward's heart? I'd seen the look in his eyes last night as we made love. His green eyes were barren, as if he expected me to disappear like a mirage in the distance. How was it fair to leave him when we had just admitted we loved each other?

Edward broke into my thoughts by swirling a glass of red wine under my nose. I felt him sit down behind me on the floor, snuggling in so I was between his legs with a sigh. I took my glass on wine and clinked it with his, glad I didn't have to turn and see the bleakness in his eyes, in his fake, brave smile. It was one thing to be breaking my own heart by leaving; it was wholly another issue to be breaking his, too.

"So," Edward asked me softly, his chin on my shoulder and his face in my hair, "what are we doing here?"

"Packing my books for storage, though I don't know how I can handle living without them." I hope Edward heard the double meaning in my words.

_How could I live without him?_

Edward and I were sitting on the floor in my bedroom; the loud music Alice had picked blaring from the lounge through the open door. We were having a Packing Sunday, as Alice and Rose had decided to move out when I left. There was no feasible way that they could afford the rent between two people, and neither of them felt right getting another roommate.

Emmett and Jasper – who I could hear arguing loudly over how to disassemble Alice's drinks cabinet in the hallway, had practically attacked with suggestions of separate living arrangements. I had been shocked that both the Cullen's had offered to let their respective girlfriends move in with them after such a short time, but it only took one look between them all to see that love-at-first-sight disease had attacked all my friends.

Selfishly, I had to struggle past the jealousy of my two best friends getting Happily Ever After's with their Cullen men. They were starting lives together, and I was moving away from my own Cullen.

Edward picked up my battered copy of "_The Phantom of the Opera_", flipping through the yellowed pages one handed, with an elbow leaning on my knee.

"I'm sure your books will miss you." His voice cracked and he had to clear his throat before continuing. "They look well loved."

_I love you too, my darling_.

I turned in Edward's arms, hating that he had the same look on his face he had had since we woke up this morning. It was a blank mask, hiding the emotions I had seen in his eyes last night, hiding everything. I was glad he didn't attempt to smile; every pretend lift of his lips made me want to cringe.

"I've got a great idea!" I told him, depositing my wine on the floor so I could hug his broad shoulders. "Why don't we keep my babies in your library instead of the storage place? Then I know they're being loved until I come back for them."

_Until I come back for you_.

Something that looked like a mixture between hope and anger flashed through Edward's eyes, before he smiled that painfully fake smile and kissed the tip of my nose.

"Your books will look homey on the shelves, all mixed up with mine." By the time he had finished speaking the fake smile was gone and he looked valiantly miserable again.

I understood his hopeless desire to just _feel_ last night. If it meant that the misery was gone for even a minute, then avoiding talking about everything for another moment was worth it. I leant in and pressed my lips to Edward's, tasting the wine on them. Edward was frozen besides his steady breathing for a few seconds. My heart contracted painfully and I thought he might push me away.

I needn't have worried. Edward made a painful sound in the back of his throat and pulled me tighter against him. He firmly ran his tongue over the seam of my lips, demanding entrance to my mouth.

"Mmm, you're wearing the cherries again." He groaned appreciatively against my lips. I was indeed wearing my Cherry Chap Stick again – how could I not, when it always got such a desperate reaction out of him?

"It's all for you," I promised him. I could have sworn I heard Edward purr like a big, contented cat at my words, a second before I found myself thrown, none too lightly, onto my bed.

I squeaked when my body bounced, and earned a genuine, affectionate smile from Edward right before he pounced on top of me. My big contented cat looked positively lethal when he landed lithely over me.

"I love those little surprised sounds you make." Edward smirked at me, straddling me and twisting his hips against mine. "Makes me feel like I'm doing something positively naughty to my little innocent Angel."

"Smug little prick." I rolled my eyes at him, chuckling. I hoped he couldn't hear how nervous the laugh was, considering how ardently I was trying to lighten our combined moods. "I'll be sure to get a few of those noises out of you tonight."

Edward, thank God, was willing to pretend everything was okay for me. Or perhaps he needed this too, a fairytale in which Prince Edward and Princess Bella have all the time in the world together. Either way, he played along.

"Excuse me," he growled in a faux indignant voice, as he grabbed my hands and pinned them above my head. "But did you seriously just call my cock "little"?"

I grinned up at him, raising an eyebrow and giving him my most Jessica Rabbit-like expression. "Prove me wrong, Mr. Cullen. Prove me wrong."

_Come and get me, Edward_.

I heard that rumble in Edward's chest that I knew represented danger, and then he was lowering the weight of his body fully onto mine, and pressing his mouth against my ear.

"One." He spat at me, in his you-_really_-shouldn't-have-said-that voice, "I've warned you about what calling me Mr. Cullen does to me." He pressed up with his hips to shift my legs apart and fit our groins together. As always when I felt the hard nub beneath his pants, the pleasure of knowing I was the one drawing such a psychical response from him turned me on even more. "Two. I'm going to get you to ruin that pretty blue g-string of yours just by having my big fucking cock _near _you."

I knew from past experience that this was something he would have no trouble whatsoever achieving. What I didn't know was how Edward knew what color my underwear was considering both of us were in track pants and t-shirts, and considering we had made a mutual decision not to shower together since we were running late in getting back to my place this morning.

"How did you kn-" I broke off on a gasp as Edward started shifting against me, aligning us so the head of his cock was pressing against all my tingly parts. I swear this man had a road map of female anatomy memorized in his head and knew exactly where to apply pressure.

"I spied on you getting dressed this morning," he drawled, smirking unrepentantly down at me, squeezing his hand around my wrists as he moved against me. "So sue me."

I was about to retaliate, but Edward, the clever duck, realized this and silenced me with his mouth.

Not one to leave my opinions unvoiced, I broke away from his demanding lips to growl out; "pervert."

Edward bucked his hips up particularly hard, making my head spin with something close to giddiness, and, his mouth set in a snarl, replied, "you think that's perverted? Just wait to see what I have planned for you tomorrow at work."

"Something to corrupt your innocent little Angel, I'm guessing." I laughed at him, loving that my unimpressed reaction would only trigger him to act more animalistic. My dangerous animal.

Edward's forehead pressed to mine as his mouth ghosted near my bottom lip. The tortured bleakness was back in his face as he whispered raggedly, "Might as well make use of the time I have."

I wanted to tell him that he'd have me forever, as long as he could wait for me, but he seemed to be avoiding reality just as much as I was, because he kissed me urgently again.

Edward began thrusting his tongue in tandem with his undulating hips, and just when we were both at the gasping/grunting, begging/swearing stage of proceedings, fucking Alice walked through my open door.

"Oh my God guys! Get a room!" She laughed, walking over to the bed and perching herself on the end like the Queen of Tut.

"We have gotten a room. _Mine_." I snapped, frustrated at her, glaring as Edward's head fell to my shoulder with a thunk. He muttered something about "useless midgets" and "sucky timing" against my collarbone, making both me and Alice, who was making no move to leave, giggle.

"Sorry Romeo," I smacked his ass, earning my own satisfying sound of surprise and getting him to shift his rampant hard-on against me once more, "looks like you'll have to prove me wrong later."

"Eww." Alice wrinkled her nose as she crossed her legs and got more comfortable, looking at the two of us like we were a mildly interesting television show. "I don't even wanna know what you're talking about."

"Edward was trying to prove a point," I teased him as he climbed off me, the tent in his track pants glaringly obvious, "so far he's yet to do so."

"Eww, seriously." Alice rolled her eyes, pointing Edward out the door as he scowled heatedly at me. When Edward made no move to leave, instead continuing to rake his eyes over my body as if measuring where he could touch me to incur the loudest moan, Alice said dismissively "Jazz and Em need your help moving something, it might take a minute. So get going, Jeeves."

We both laughed again as Edward shot me a "you're gonna get yours" look and left, muttering under his breath about "women being an alien breed" as he adjusted himself.

Even if we were both pretending, it was nice to get back to the teasing and the palpable sexual innuendos. In fact, I thought we'd even looked happy enough to have fooled Alice, but as soon as Edward was gone she turned to me with a concerned look on her face.

"That was the most depressing thing I've ever seen. Are you okay?" She asked me, grabbing hold of both my hands and looking as if I'd just been told I have cancer or something.

"I'll say it's depressing," I said, trying to defuse the intensity of whatever Alice was thinking. I don't think I could handle one more person looking at me with such sadness. "I should have hung a tie on the door like a college dorm!"

"Not that." Alice said gravely, clearly undeterred at my attempts at distraction. "That way you two were kissing. Both of you were clinging to the other one like scared little kids during a thunder storm, and I swear one or both of you were about to burst into tears."

Shit. Well that did it. Next second I was sobbing like a two year old into Alice's shoulder and asking her in stuttering gasps, "do-o you think I'm doing the right thing? I lo-ve him."

"I don't want to sound like a fortune cookie, here," Alice said, clearly choosing her words with great care as she rubbed my back, "but what does your heart tell you?"

Like an idiot, I started stuttering and sobbing harder.

"You're right!" I wailed despairingly, "You do sound like a stoopid f-fortune cookie!"

"Look, Bella," Alice told me, ignoring my hiccups and smoothing my hair from my face. Forgetting Edward (not that I could), how was I supposed to live without the comfort of my best friends for a year? "I know you. For all you bravado, and your ability to flirt a guy under the table, you're insecure. You want to please everyone, and right now your making a decision where, either way, at least one party will be disappointed in you."

This was the same conclusion I had come to, but hearing it from Alice made it more real. Timidly, staring at her with eyes I knew were wide with a need for reassurance, I asked, "what if he doesn't want to wait for me? What if I go to London, and he moves on? I can't ask him to turn down another relationship. That wouldn't be fair. But I don't want to lose him!"

To my surprise, Alice laughed in my face at all my insecurities and deepest fears laid bear in front of her. "Bella," she smiled gently, reaching over to my bedside table and grabbing the tissue box from it. "If there's one thing you don't have to worry about, it's losing Edward. The way he looks at you is like a devout man staring at Mecca. The only way your relationship will end is if you end it – or, if both of you are too afraid to tell the other what you want."

I had seen that look on Edward's face. That devout sincerity.

The green in his eyes would darken; his crooked lips – an imperfection that made him perfect – would shift into a one sided, content smile; his pale cheeks would flush with happiness.

"What do you want, Bella?" Alice asked me, watching the soft smile on my face as I recalled the soft smile on Edward's. "All this comes down to that. I set up a moving day with 12 hours notice, I can move us back in in 6. It's not too late to change your mind until your plane takes off. Just tell me. Tell. Me. What. You. Want."

I took the tissue she offered me and blew my nose, using the action to take a pause before answering her. Finally, I looked into her loving face and told her, "I want to grow old with Edward. I want him to spank me a little more. I _really _want him to tie me to his bed and have his wicked way with me. I want to marry him in a big church and see my mother cry. I want to tell him off for sneaking a slice of pizza to our daughter when I send her to bed without dinner for breaking her curfew. I want to argue about whether he forgot to take his medication before dinner when we're both eighty and old and wrinkly."

"Isn't that your answer, Bella?" Alice asked me, chucking my used tissue and promptly offering me another one.

Ha. As if it were that simple. "I want to be with Edward forever, but I _have _to go to London. My parents worked too hard to send me to school to turn this down."

"That doesn't sound like you _want _to go. It sounds like an obligation."

I felt impotent anger rise up. "Well this isn't a fairytale, Al. I'm not Princess Bella, destined for everlasting happiness. This is how the real world works. People do things out of obligation. People do things even when the right choice feels so fucking wrong."

And there it was. The same hopeless look Edward had been giving me since dinner with Jake last night. The look that meant; _I know there is no other way for you to pick_. Alice pulled me tight against her, just like she held me when Josh was waving at another girl.

"Oh, Bella." She sighed sadly, "my Princess."

Then no words were needed. Alice just held me as I rocked out my tears, allowing me to cry like I had desperately needed to do all night. She ran her little hands over my back, just like our mom's used to do when we were still young enough to be making mud-pies.

It was only when Edward cleared his throat from the doorway that I broke away, my eyes cried dry and as dead as the beautiful man who was watching us.

"Alice," he murmured, "I can take over from here. You'll probably want to plan your wardrobe for tonight – and Bella's, I don't doubt."

"Tonight?" We both asked him at the same time. Only Alice managed to infuse curiosity into her tone; I just sounded lifeless.

Edward's eyes were dancing over my face as he replied, "Tonight. My mom called – she just flew into town and wants to have a family dinner."

Oh, _goody_.

Dinner with Edward, Esme, Carlisle, Rosalie, Emmett, Jasper, and Alice.

Only four of whom knew about Carlisle's illegitimate child.

Two of who didn't know two of their children were planning on moving in with girls they had known for under two months.

One of who was more then glad to see me and Edward broken up.

It was going to be worse then dinner with Charles Manson's Family.

**

* * *

Poor Bella.**

**She's almost as emo as Edward right now. (Am I being politically correct or does emo need a capital E for Emo?)**

**How will things possibly work out for Emo 1 and Emo 2?**

**Review and you'll find out sooner.**

**Plus, hell, just to speed up the reviewing process. There's totally sex against a wall in two chapters.**

**Review and you'll get THAT sooner!**


	32. Synchronization

**Wow! I've had a lot of people on both sides of the fence in terms of whether Bella should go to London now that you know about how she feels.**

**Here's my two cents: I had a similar opportunity in my first year of University, and I chose my Edward (I'm being a lot nicer to him since his ribs got all healed ;) ). However, my parents aren't the richest bees in the nest, and they paid a lot of money and gave up a lot to put my sister and I through private school. So I feel completely obligated to them, not because they're guilt-tripping me, but because I'm not an ice-cold bitch. So yeah, I'm sitting on the fence.**

**Also I'm not up on the slang, can you guys explain to me what "totes reviews" means? A heap of you said it and I was all, huh?**

* * *

**BPOV.**

It would have been hilarious if it weren't so completely and utterly mortifying.

Actually, if I was being completely honest, it was still kind of funny.

The kind of funny where someone trips and falls on their ass and you can't help that little part inside of you that makes you snort with amusement.

The kind of comedic entertainment Krusty the Clown suggested Sideshow Bob presented. It was when someone who looked dignified, proper, got hit in the face with a cream pie. People liked seeing someone get knocked down a peg.

And we had _all _gotten knocked down a peg tonight.

Dinner with the Cullen family, plus Alice, Rose and myself, had taken place in an expensive French restaurant uptown. It was one of those establishments that had been around forever. The kind with a separate fork for each kind of fish, pristine white table cloths, candle lit settings, and marble pillars. The setting, the fancy clothes Alice had made us wear, all of this simply added to the insanity.

Everyone from our group was on their feet and shouting something. The wine table that had been placed next to our large round table had been knocked over, splattering Edward, Emmett, Carlisle and Jasper and a few unfortunate passers-by with red wine and champagne.

Next to us, a group of waiters were holding a three-tiered birthday cake lit with 50 sparklers. They were frozen in shock, mid-way between singing "Happy Birthday" to the table one from ours. The table in question had their mouths open in abject horror; colorful cone birthday hats perched precariously on their heads. One chubby boy, who looked like he was choking from the tightness of his bright red bowtie, had a noisemaker hanging out of his gaping mouth. Every single person in the restaurant was staring at us, some on his or her feet to get a better look.

More important then all of that – Carlisle, Edward, Emmett and Jasper were rolling around on the floor, knocking over chairs and crunching over the broken wine bottles and ice. They were all shouting various things, from "Stop!" to "Bastard!" to "Ungh!" to "Ouch, dammit!" and many other charming profanities.

Esme, Rose, Alice and I were also shouting, though we were mostly ranting to each other about the stupidity of men and screaming at our particular squeezes.

Basically, the entire night had become Fubar.

Fucked.

Up.

Beyond.

All.

Recognition.

And it was Edward's entire bloody fault.

* * *

Edward's mood took a dramatic turn for the worst after he walked in on my little crying session with Alice. The combination of finding me in what was obviously a post-tears state, with the prospect of dinner with his father, had him melancholy and sullen as Alice ordered him into a suit. Once dressed and ready, we unanimously decided that we would in no possible way be able to get through dinner without a little Dutch courage. Concluding this, we took up Emmett's offer of letting everyone carpool in his giant ass Hummer, though we should have known better.

Drinking + Edward & Bella usually = Disaster.

Emmett and Jasper were, at first, oblivious to the tension held by the rest of us. It didn't take long for that to change. Emmett was driving, Jasper was shotgun, Rose, Alice, and I were in the middle seat, and Edward was sprawled out across the back seat, moodily tugging on one of the curls Alice had made out of my hair.

"You three look like giant cupcakes." Emmett snickered from the driver's seat, his eyes crinkling as he looked at us in the review mirror.

This was an accurate description. Alice had dressed us in three complementary Versace dresses, on loan from work, hers bubblegum pink, Rose's sky blue and mine jade green. Each was strapless and tight waisted, with a bubble skirt that had copious amounts of tulle underneath.

"Yeah," Jasper laughed with him, twisting in his seat as he teased us, "mom already loves y'all, so are you trying to impress our dad? He's taken, you little home wreckers."

Rose, Alice and I laughed nervously, because really, if Jasper had known about Carlisle's drunken one-night stand with Angela, he wouldn't have been making jokes. If the three of us were trying to defuse the situation by laughing, Edward was trying to make it worse.

While we giggled, Edward gave a loud snort and muttered, "Yeah right."

We all swiveled in our seats to look at him (me with a little difficultly as he had been playing with my hair at the time). Edward gave us all a bland, sour look, though when he looked at me he also brought a hand up, indicating pointedly that he'd like to continue playing with my hair. I turned slightly; enough that I could keep looking at him, and Edward's long fingers immediately plunged into my curls.

"Whaddyamean, Eddie?" Emmett asked in his booming voice, glancing between the road and his little brother with confusion.

"I mean," Edward said slowly, savoring each bitter word, "I'm sure the girls would have no trouble seducing anyone looking as lovely as they do, let alone _Carlisle_."

"What in the hell is with you and _dad _lately?" Jasper asked him impatiently, while us girls stared at him in dumb-founded shock. If Jasper or Emmett had been suspicious about their father, it would have been easy to pick up on the obvious implications behind Edward's supposed compliment of us.

What in the name of all that is sacred was my boy doing?!

"What's with _Carlisle _and I?" Edward answered Jasper, sounding calculated, "just nine months worth of-"

"WHO WANTS TO PLAY 'I SPY'?"

I'd love to say that it was Alice that burst out with that ridiculous suggestion at the top of her lungs.

But unfortunately, it was me who shouted. Every person in the car then swiveled to face me instead of Edward, with a scary synchronization that I swear they practiced when I wasn't around.

"You want to play 'I spy'?" Jasper asked me, like I had just escaped from the crazy ward and was suggesting that the apocalypse was nigh.

"Yay!" Alice finally jumped in, catching on to my desperate look and clapping her hands together. "I spy with my little eye…"

I huffed a sigh of relief as Alice and Rose began playing a very loud game of "I spy". I knew exactly what Edward was doing, and it made me want to burst into tears that the only comparison I had for his behavior was the Kübler-Ross model of grief.

Kübler-Ross had mapped the five stages of grief, and from what I could tell; Edward had gone through the first three stages. He had been in denial, he had been angry, he had bargained for more time. I thought he had reached acceptance, stage five, but apparently he was majorly stuck in depression.

And when Edward was depressed; he lashed out – evidently at Carlisle. As I considered all of this, I felt his warm breath on the back of my neck as he whispered, low enough that he couldn't be heard over Alice; "my little Angel, I'm so in love with you."

Only he sounded like he was admitting some horrible weakness, like he was revealing some vital piece of information to his worst enemy. He sounded like he wished he _wasn't _in love with me.

Fiercely, before my mind could catch up with my actions, I undid my belt and vaulted myself over the top of my seat, tackling Edward so hard that his head bumped against the glass.

I pressed my forehead to his, barely hearing the falter in the others game of "I spy", as I told him harshly, "It's the same for me, Edward."

I thought his self-destructive mood would be humbled by the intensity in my voice, but Edward simply snorted disbelievingly and muttered, "Lets not waste time that could be spent with my tongue in your mouth arguing about technicalities."

Then he spent the rest of the drive kissing me, so urgently and desperately that I swore I saw stars.

Edward's little outburst should have been an indication of things to come, but it was too late by the time he finally released me, as we had just pulled up to the valet outside our restaurant.

Carlisle and Esme didn't arrive until Edward was halfway through his fourth glass of scotch and I was polishing off my second glass of wine. Though, in all fairness, we had both been drinking fairly quickly. All the while, the rest of the table was shooting us worried, and in Emmett's case amused, looks.

"Geez, Ma," Emmett laughed, as each of us got up to greet their parents. "You ever been on time before?"

"It's Carlisle," Edward butted-in loudly, and with a characteristic bland viciousness, one of his arms keeping me pinned to his side and the other hugging Esme's shoulders, "he likes to make a grand entrance."

Carlisle shot Edward a hooded look as he shook Jasper's hand, and I couldn't help but notice the similarities between the two. Just like when Edward didn't want anyone knowing what he was feeling, Carlisle's face had shut down.

We all managed to barely laugh off Edward's comment as Rose and Alice were introduced to Carlisle, but Emmett and Jasper clearly knew there was something wrong by then.

So did Esme, because when she pulled me into a hug, having to work her way around Edward's arm (which was still sprawled possessively around me), she whispered in my ear, "has he been like this since you decided to go?"

I gave her a slight nod when we broke apart, wondering if she thought I was abandoning Edward. Thankfully, the look in her eyes was full of concern for both of us.

Due to a fluke of seating, Edward and I were directly opposite Esme and Carlisle on our round table, with Rose and Emmett to one side and Jasper and Alice to the other. Once we had all finished ordering and the casual, "so, Esme, how was your flight?" kind of questions were out of the way, there was an awkward minute where we all just sat there.

We couldn't talk about us girls moving out, because neither Carlisle or Esme knew Emmett and Jasper had offered to move in with Rose and Alice.

We were all avoiding any topic that had to do with Carlisle, because though he hadn't said anything since we sat down (besides whispering in my ear "kissing you in the car made me hard as rock"), Edward would clearly have something sarcastic to say if we did.

Finally, in possibly the stupidest idea an intelligent, conscientious man had ever had, Carlisle broke the silence by popping open the bottle of champagne we had ordered.

"We should toast to Bella's fantastic trip." He said cheerfully, gracefully tilting the open bottle over Esme's champagne flute.

Emmett, Rose, Alice, Jasper and I looked at him like he was an idiot.

Did he not notice the glaring resentment of his youngest son? I mean, Carlisle was actively bringing up the topic that had caused Edward's dismal mood.

"A toast. What an excellent idea," Edward said in his scary-calm voice, sitting up slightly so he could reach over and yank the champagne bottle out of Carlisle's hand. By then Alice had her hand over her mouth and was watching the two of them like they were about to draw weapons and start a shoot out, and Rose was looking as amused as Emmett.

Instead of pouring the champagne, he raised the bottle in his hand and said, "Here's to all of us together as a _family_." Edward's eyes locked with Carlisle's as he continued, each word precise and vicious. "Something we should do more often; because there's _nothing _worse then denying your own flesh and blood."

Then, still half out of his seat, he raised the bottle of champagne to his lips and started chugging it down.

I heard someone let out a snort of laughter and was shocked to see it was Esme, though she quickly covered it up by taking a sip from her flute. I guess that explained where Emmett got his twisted sense of humor. Once Edward had skulled practically half the bottle, he banged it down on the drinks table and leant back in his seat, reaching up to bury his hand in my curls again.

"Your hair feels nice," he crooned at me in his best seductive voice, ignoring the rest of the table's stares, which had never left him. I blushed ten shades of red at Edward using the sex-me-please voice in front of his dad, but before I could try and diffuse the situation, Jasper interrupted.

"That's it." He growled loudly, looking between Carlisle and Edward with anger, "the two of you have been acting weird for months. Edward, don't get me wrong, you've always been a broody little git, but it's gotten way worse. I don't care if we have to sit here all night, but one of you is going to tell us wh-"

"THE FOODS HERE!"

Half the restaurant turned to look at us as I shouted, making me consider charging admission to the Edward and Bella show. Buy one ticket; see familial dysfunction at its best.

"Yes! I ah…love food." Rosalie said, her fake enthusiasm not as ridiculous as mine purely because she didn't shout it across the room. I was so red by this point that I swear someone could roast an egg on me.

Edward chuckled next to me; ignoring the venomous look I shot him.

"You going to do that every time someone asks a sticky question, Angel?" He whispered to me, low enough that no one could hear over the banging of cutlery and the hum of the other patrons.

I turned my head away from him, rolling my eyes as my plate was set down in front of me. Not one to be ignored, Edward pressed his forehead into my temple and waited.

"There wouldn't _be _any sticky questions if you stopped acting like you don't care about anything." I hissed under my breath, already dividing our vegetables so he got all my broccoli and I got all his carrots.

I noticed Carlisle looking at me, his eyes flickering between Edward's face pressed into mine and me dividing our plates. There was a troubled crease between his eyebrows, as if he was regretting something. Hopefully it was his disapproval of our relationship.

Edward's hot breath, tinted with the smell of scotch (oddly making it more appealing), washed across my face as he laughed an un-amused laugh. "Darling, I'm not acting like anything. I really couldn't give a shit anymore. Isn't it enough I have to deal with you leaving, let alone the burden of Carlisle's secrets weighing me down? And don't act like this is easy for you either; I saw your tears earlier."

The injustice of that burned at me. Did he seriously think this had _ever _been easy for me?

Esme clearing her throat spared me from answering, and I gratefully turned towards her warm smile. Edward's face fell to the base of my throat, as he completely ignored his food and brought the champagne bottle back to his mouth.

"So Bella," Esme said loudly, as if she had to raise her voice over the intense silence that had fallen over everyone, "how did you come about this scholarship?"

Geez.

Pick another topic, people.

"Oh, I can answer that," Edward said loudly (before I could even open my mouth), his head still lolling on my shoulder. "See my Bella here and her good friend Jacob Black – who by the way wants nothing more then to inseminate her with his devil sperm – decided they wanted to spend a cozy year in London together. One application later, and BHAM! London here they come."

Thankfully, everyone had the good sense to ignore Edward by this point (though Rose, Emmett, Esme and even Alice snorted at Edward using the term "devil sperm"), so I answered Esme calmly.

"I was actually shocked that I won. My academic merit was enough that I could be considered, but I didn't really think I had a chance, which is why my video application wasn't that good."

"But, because my luck is just that fucking great, she did win. I'll probably get struck by lightning on the way home, too." Edward laughed, self-depreciatingly.

"Edward, language." Carlisle and Esme scolded at the same time, though neither of them had said anything when he used the word "sperm" in casual conversation.

"Yeah," Emmett finally came into the disastrous conversation, "so how are you going to replace Bella at work? Jess totally isn't good enough to move up a notch. Maybe Angela can come back in time?"

Emmett's heart had been in the right place, as he was obviously trying to keep the peace with what he presumed was a neutral conversation piece, but he couldn't have picked a worse point to bring up.

"Oh, yeah." Edward snickered, picking his head up and staring balefully at everyone, "I kind of doubt she'd want to be torn away from her illegitimate son, especially considering all the trouble she's having with the boys his father."

Jasper, who was always good at picking up on people's moods, took one look between Edward's resentful glare, Carlisle's white face and Esme's amused head shaking, and asked very quietly, "what father troubles?"

Edward obviously wasn't as indifferent as he appeared, because though this was his perfect opportunity, he kept his mouth shut and looked pointedly at Carlisle.

Carlisle, on the other hand, was looking between his sons and his wife, clearly torn about what he was going to say. It was Esme's little, encouraging nod and her whispered "it's time", combined with Jasper's determined, unrelenting stare, that had Carlisle finally saying, "It's no excuse, but it happened when your mother and I were separated…"

Turns out, Jasper and Emmett didn't need to hear anything after that.

One second, we were all sitting there calmly, and the next, Emmett was roaring "YOU SON OF A BITCH!" and then both he and Jasper had launched themselves across the table at Carlisle.

Chaos.

The tablecloth was tugged away as Carlisle was tackled out of his chair. Slowly, one painful tug at a time, the plates, candles, our wine glasses, all were dragged onto the floor. Esme just managed to jump out of the way as the three Cullen's rolled around on the floor, a mess of flailing arms and legs.

Emmett was getting in most of the punches, though he seemed to be hitting Jasper almost as much as his dad. Carlisle, for his part, wasn't even trying to fight back, merely attempting to dislodge his mammoth son. Jasper seemed to be swearing the most, jumping in every now and then to try and get around Emmett. Then they rolled into the legs of an overweight man who had frozen in shock while passing our table, sending him into the wine table, and covering all of them in red wine.

If that wasn't bad enough, Alice looked to Edward, who was the only one out of all of us still sitting down, and told him shrilly, "get in there and do something!"

Possibly Alice had been expecting him to suddenly reach into the fight and break his family apart, but she seemed to have forgotten that he was the one who started this entire fiasco. Edward, who was still calmly sipping from the champagne bottle, put it down, undid the button on his dinner jacket, decided to pick the bottle up again, and then lazily launched himself into the fray, landing on Emmett's back.

Emmett, with Edward riding his back like a freaking Koala, let out an "oomphff!" and careened into Jasper, who had his father in a headlock.

The large man had managed to extract himself from the red wine, only to slip in the champagne Edward had just split, sending him back into Jasper. It was this non-Cullen addition to the fight that had the all of them suddenly freezing, realizing that everyone was staring at them, and that they were covered in wine, champagne, glass and blood.

In the third moment of perfect synchronization for the night, each Cullen man bent over to help the huge man up, asking solicitously, "Are you alright, Sir?"

"Perfect gentlemen." Esme muttered to us sarcastically.

Rose was the first to react, besides Esme's shell-shocked comment. She waded her way through the mess, found Emmett, and twisted his ear.

"Fuck, Rosie!" Emmett grunted, letting her pull him up from his twisted lobe, possibly fearing he'd lose it if he failed to comply.

"You idiot! Did it not even occur to you that you were in a public place?" Rose ranted, completely clueless to the fact that _she_ was in a public place with everyone staring at her tirade.

While Rose scolded Emmett, Esme and Carlisle were having an apologetic conversation with the maître d, and I distinctly saw Carlisle pulling out a credit card. Alice was crouched over Jasper, who was trying to stem a nosebleed while shooting daggers at his dad.

Then there was Edward.

He was lying on his back in a pile of glass and wine, his lips bloody and stretched in a grin. The grin seemed to indicate that the turn of events were just what he needed in his quest for self-destruction.

I marched over until I was standing over him, hands on hips, no doubt looking like a vengeful jade green cupcake.

"I hope you're happy." I told him seriously, in my best stern voice.

Edward propped himself up on his elbows and leisurely looked at my bare legs. "Ecstatic, love."

"What could possibly have possessed you to start all of this?"

"You know what?" he asked me, completely ignoring me and now eying the cleavage exposed by my dress.

"What?" I spat down at him, about ready to beat some sense into that drunken noggin' of his.

"I think we should get married."

* * *

**YES, Edward **_**IS **_**overreacting.**

**Majorly. **

**But he always does, and I totally love him for it. **

**Also I figured he deserved to lash out. **

**Plus, really, this fight was thirty chapters in the making.**


	33. Join Em'

**I'm so glad you found the dinner hilarious! You'd all LOVE dinner with my family then ;)**

**HPA has also been translated into French by the lovely yon.01, it can be found on her profile page, /u/1980515/ and also on mine.**

**Also, the very first part of dialogue here is based on one of my favorite authors, Janet Evanovich. Read her shit, it's top notch!**

* * *

"_You know what?" he asked me, completely ignoring me and now eying the cleavage exposed by my dress._

"_What?" I spat down at him, about ready to beat some sense into that drunken noggin' of his._

"_I think we should get married."_

**BPOV.**

Edward was lying in the debris of his brothers and his fathers fight, legs sprawled haphazardly apart, propped up on his elbows, blood and wine and glass all over the place.

His hair was wet with champagne, and it was falling into his eyes as he grinned up at me, all rakish and winning and amused.

Like me saying yes to this insanity was a forgone conclusion. I must have frozen in shock, because Edward used his elbows for leverage and sat up, swaying slightly.

"Whaddya think?" He prompted, oblivious to the frantic waiters, less then two meters from him, trying to douse a part of the tablecloth that had caught on fire.

"What do I think about marrying you?" I clarified, hands still on my hips, furious expression gone in the face of pure crazytalk.

"Let me give you the highlights." Edward smirked, gesturing wildly with one of his hands. He almost whacked one particularly harassed looking waiter in the nose, but the man, having seen the fight, had the good sense to duck out of the way before any damage could occur.

"Wedding cake," Edward ticked off, "my credit card, _and_," he gave me a look as if whatever his next point would be the dealmaker, "unlimited oral sex. For the _rest_ of your life."

Okay, yeah, all of that sounded pretty damn good.

And, I mean, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em, right?

I finally understood that philosophy.

What else can one possibly do when every one around you had jumped on the fast track to the loony bin?

I allowed myself a small laugh for the first time since this night began. It was either laugh or cry by this point. Then I held out my hand to help Edward up, and told him in a defeated tone, "let's go home, alright?"

Edward latched onto my hand with one of his, and used the leverage of his other hand on the floor to push himself to his feet. Then he grabbed me up, locked my body against his, and whispered in my ear, "in a rush to get home because you're thinking about the wedding cake?"

I snorted in amusement and tugged myself away from him so I could look into his eyes. "No," I purred back, "and I'm not thinking about the credit card, either."

Edward laughed and pulled me back into his chest, burying his face in my hair before letting me pull away again. "Well, then lets go get started, shall we? One quickie and then I'll spend all night…laying out my assets for your perusal."

_Frickin' hell_.

How was I supposed to stay coherent and responsible when _that _was his plan?

Stupid, Bella.

Stupid, horny, Bella.

Stupid, horny, Edward-has-freaky-ass-voodoo, Bella.

"You're impossible," I sighed to Edward, shaking my head at this situation – specifically Edward proposing to me after having been in an Ultimate Grudge Match with his brothers and dad, then wanting to run off and show me his "assets".

Mind you, I was probably worse; because there wasn't anything I would love to do more right at that moment then check out his aforementioned goods.

Edward simply shrugged in response, neither denying nor confirming my opinion of him, and held out his hand for me to take.

Of course, as easy as breathing, I took it.

He put a finger to his lips to indicate we needed to be stealthy, and then tapped his nose like he was cunning as a fox or something. Then he led me across the restaurant and towards the door.

Of course, in his stealth (or more likely in his drunkenness), James Fucking Bond here didn't seem to realize everyone had already been staring at us, and were watching us as we tried to sneak towards an exit. So while it was no surprise for me when his entire family was waiting for us at the door, Edward jumped like they had just materialized from thin air or something.

"Edward there's a nasty cut on your forehead!" Esme warned him, though I swear to God that woman was still laughing on the inside.

Edward looked up, as if he could see his own forehead, and answered, "Jasper's got elbows like knives."

Alice and I winced at each other, though she also sent me a look that told me we were going to be having a Three Musketeers meeting as soon as humanly possible. Rosalie, who was batting pieces of glass off Emmett's suit quite violently, reinforced this with a look of her own.

"Yeah, well, how in the fuck could you not tell us what happened?" Jasper glared at him, as did Emmett, though he kept shooting furtive glances between Esme (who had a supportive arm around Carlisle's shoulders) and his dad.

"Jasper, language." Carlisle snapped, automatically it seemed.

"Dad, adultery." Jasper snapped back just as quickly. Carlisle actually blushed and looked down at his feet, and I felt a momentary pity for him. He was obviously repentant for everything that had happened, though I couldn't help but feel he could extend some of that newly found empathy and understanding towards Edward and I.

"Ummm…yeah…we were planning on having lots of sex, so if you could all step aside…" Edward made a polite shooing motion as he smiled angelically, and I swear I almost came after him with a shotgun and a shovel.

"Edward, could you please stop thinking about sex for one minute and tell me what you were thinking about when you told your brothers in this manner?" Esme growled at him, in a voice I recognized well from my own mom. I also felt a little indignant on my man's behalf, considering Edward hadn't _technically _told anyone anything.

Edward didn't reply, except to make that little shooing motion with his hands again, a hopeful expression on his face as if he actually expected that would make them move.

"Edward could you please stop thinking about sex for one minute and tell me what you were thinking when you failed to fucking tell me I had another little bro waddling around in mother fucking dippers?" Emmett chimed in next, looking annoyed and ignoring the "Emmett, language!" from both his parents.

"Better yet, Edward, could you please tell ME what you were thinking when you told my boyfriend his father had cheated on his mother knowing full well that would result in Emmett attacking him?" Rose asked, grimacing as she inspected Emmett's bloody knuckles.

Edward didn't answer any of them, and then a second later everyone was shouting at everyone else, but mostly at Edward. Everyone besides Carlisle, who was watching Edward with an expression somewhere between guilt, no doubt at the burden he had laid on his shoulders, and confusion, which I didn't understand.

Edward stood stoically for one minute, glanced longingly between the blocked exit and me, and then roared at the top of his lungs, "SHUT UP!"

And silence there was.

We all looked at Edward in shock, but he looked so furious, so upset, so…at the end of his fucking rope, that no one dared speak.

"If any of you have a problem with me or my conduct," Edward spat, emotion making the words shake, "you can take it up with me in 23…" he glanced at his watch, saw that it was after midnight, and amended, "…_22 _days. I wont waste a_ second _of that time on anyone but Bella. Clear?"

I looked down at my feet, heart pounding in my throat. Could any decision that resulted in this mess really be right? When I looked up, I saw that they were all looking at Edward just as Carlisle was, with guilt, and pity.

Finally, Esme whispered, "It's clear, sweetie. Why don't you and Bella go home now?"

Esme nudged Carlisle, clearing a path to the door. Edward looked relieved, but the mask of drunken amusement immediately came back up as he looked at me.

He grinned widely at me, rested one hand on its place on my hip, and reached across my body to grab my other, kissing my knuckles softly.

"We're sprung!" He smiled at me, as we headed to the taxi line near the valet. I wondered whether he was sobering up, or whether he was simply just a good an actor intoxicated as he was fully alert. Either way, the furious Edward, the _real_ Edward, was once again hidden behind his amused façade.

I didn't say anything the entire ride home, half in respect to his "SHUT UP" rule (though I don't think that applied to me) and half because I had so many things that I _wanted _to say. Things like:

_Edward, of course I'll accept your ridiculous proposal that you probably didn't even mean._

_Edward, of course I absolutely wont go to London._

_Edward, of course I don't expect you to wait for me for a year._

But I couldn't say any of those things. It really wasn't the time, especially after the craziness of the Cullen Family Dinner and the Cullen Family Punch On. There was also the fact of Edward being busy feeling me up in the back seat of the taxi, hand under my skirt, tongue at my neck, and a pleased and hungry look on his face.

Thank God Alice and Rose were sleeping at the guys places, because it took Edward and I twenty minutes just to get to the elevator of my apartment. We were kissing against my truck, kissing against a wall, kissing against a pillar, rubbing and grinding against the closed elevator doors.

By the time we reached the corridor outside my apartment, we probably looked like nothing more then a series of flailing limbs. Edward's hands were jerking all over my body, as if he was working within a time limit and wanted to touch everywhere he could while he could.

Neck. Collarbone. Breasts. Wrist. Waist. Hip. Spine. Each touch was frantic and desperate as his calloused, warm hands rediscovered every point of my body. He was hissing in pleasure as his hands moved and his lips and tongue dominated mine; sounding like a lion captured in the wild who had just woken up in the Zoo. Angry and resentful at his captors, ready to pounce and devour the first second he could.

I had no doubt in that particular scenario _I _was the captor about to be devoured. Edward backed me against the closed door to my apartment and was hiking up my skirt, pushing it so it was gathered around my waist and he could press his hips into mine.

"Keys, Angel." He spat against my neck as I tried to tear my hands away from his silky hair. "_Now._"

I loosened my grip on his locks and quickly plunged my hands into my purse, unsteadily trying to extract my keys while he kneaded my ass and pressed me against his erection.

Apparently I was taking too long, because he used the hands on my ass to lift me up, forcing my legs to wrap around his waist so I could hold myself up. From this new position I could feel that Edward was already at _maximum capacity_, directly aligned with my center. He immediately began grinding against me, which really put a damper on the whole looking for my keys situation.

"Fuck it." He rasped against my neck, reaching down between us to push my g-string to the side. "I'll just take you in the hallway. Your neighbors can watch for all I care."

Mother of God, this man was going to be the death of me.

I was pretty certain he'd do it, too, and worse then that; once he started I wouldn't care where we were, either. Edward's fingers made contact with my moist folds, and I made an indelicate sound in the back of my throat as I tried to focus on finding my bloody keys. I swear to God my keys were like freaking ninjas or something, because I could _never _find the bastards when I needed them.

And I _really _needed to find them now, before we were arrested for public fornication.

"HALLELUJAH!" I held my keys victoriously in front of Edward's face, but he merely grunted and grabbed them out of my hand.

He gently but unsteadily dropped me to my feet, making sure to rub me against him as he did, and then turned to the door, unlocking it before prodding me inside the darkened apartment.

I tried in vain to suggest we go to my bedroom, or at least to the nearest flat surface, but Edward was robbing me of my power of speech by kicking off his shoes and socks and yanking off his tie and jacket. The hunger in his actions made me stand and stare like an openmouthed goldfish, and it was only sheer force of will that made me spin around and kick off my own shoes.

I tried to migrate out of the entryway, but I didn't make it two feet before his solid, warm, bloodied hands clasped down in restraint on my hips.

"Bella, I'm not going to make it to the bedroom," Edward rasped. This was hardly surprising, considering he barely made it into the apartment.

He jerked my body back against his, and I felt him, hard and ready, against the curve of my ass. God bless him, Edward took the liberty of translating my breathy little whimper into "okey dokey, that's fine by me".

He spun me around to face him, and even in the mediocre light filtering in through the windows, I could see he was wearing my favorite Edward face. His cheeks were flushed, his eyes were heavy lidded and dark, his nostrils were flared, his lips were wet and swollen and his whole being was focused on me.

This was the face that I had dreamt about before I knew Edward could even look so turned-on. I wanted to take a few seconds to admire him, but Edward muttered something that sounded suspiciously like "mine", and then he was grinding his face into mine, our teeth clacking against each others until we found our familiar rhythm; fast and needy.

When we broke for air, Edward impatiently back me against the wall while running his hands up my dress. He hooked his thumbs into my now soaking g-string and yanked it down my legs.

Then he tried fiddling with the complicated clasp at the back of my dress for a minute, before growling in frustration; "Fine, I'll just unwrap my present later."

Edward Cullen's Present.

There was no better title in the world.

I hastily stepped out of my g-string, and let Edward pin me to wall. I knew I should be feeling the cold brick, but all I could feel was the heat of Edward against me, above me, around me, entombing me in his smell and his hardness and his quick breath and his mother fucking perfection.

He made another little impatient sound and shoved his hand between my legs, nimbly probing me with his fingers as he sucked on the point of my collarbone. When he found that I was ready for him, he moaned a sound of approval against my skin and then drew away from me quickly.

Edward locked eyes with me as he unzipped his pants and fiddled with his boxers enough to draw out his cock. He gave himself a few rough pumps as he rolled a glance over my face and body, and then he pushed himself into me again.

"I'm going to fuck you against this wall, Angel." He grinned at me, gripping my hips and tugging. "Now wrap these pretty thighs around my waist, please."

Je_-sus_.

I would do anything for this man if he just asked it of me in that scary-calm, polite tone.

He helped me to wrap around him, both of us groaning when we felt his cock suddenly nestled against my heat. Then he did this amazing thing where he jerked his hips up and skewered me on his rock solid length.

We both made unintelligible sounds at that first pump, and I quickly wrapped my arms loosely around his still clothed shoulders.

"Sorry, it's too good." Edward gasped, while grinding forward, finding his perfect angle so he could start. "This is going to be hard and fast."

I must have made another "okey-dokey" noise, because suddenly he was thrusting roughly, fucking me hard and fast just like he'd promised. Edward grunted as each thrust hit home, and I leant into him, tucking my head in his neck so it wouldn't whack the wall.

As I leant in and grab his shoulders more securely, holding on for the ride, Edward broke his rhythm to quickly kiss me and growl a; "good girl."

It wasn't long before Edward was chanting my name incoherently under his breath as he released inside me, first stiffening and then shuddering in my arms as he rode out his orgasm. His head and shoulders were nuzzling at me, insistent, and I gave him what he wanted. I wrapped my arms firmly around him in a tight embrace as his legs gave out and we sank to the ground.

I was trapped under his body, him still semi-hard inside me as we lay on the welcomingly cool tiles. Edward seemed to be purring against my cheek, and for a second I thought he was going to fall asleep right there on the floor. But then he slid out of me, groaned at the loss, and shuffled down my body, nudging my legs further open with his wide shoulders.

His head disappeared under my ruffled dress and I felt his hot breath over my swollen flesh, a second before his open mouth came down determinedly on my sex. At the same time as he began nibbling and sucking purposefully on my clit, he pushed two fingers inside me and curled them roughly towards my g-spot.

"_Ungh_." I commented, rather intelligently.

Needless to say, my own orgasm followed less then two minutes after Edward's.

Job done, he picked me up (which was quite easy as I was a boneless, post-orgasm puddle) and carried me to my bedroom, plopping me down on the bed while standing at the foot of it.

"So Angel," Edward began, unbuttoning his sticky shirt and giving me the jaunty smirk again, "shall I start announcing you as the future Mrs. Cullen?"

What the hell.

"Sure, Edward," I shrugged, "Lets get married."

If you can't beat em, join em.

* * *

**Poor little Emoward, everyone shouting at him!**

**Sorry this chapter is so short, but I'm so buggered (that means tired, in case some of you don't use that particular form of slang :)) I was practically drooling over my keyboard, and I really wanted to get something out.**

**His Personal Assistant only has a few more chapters to go, people, which is very sad, but if you put me on Authors Alert, you'll find my next story in your inbox after I take a few weeks off!**

**Ooh, and IronicTwist, on of my amazing readers, has found a song that fits PERFECTLY with HPA; "Come back to me" by David Cook, listen to it, it's chock full of awesome!**


	34. Distracted

**Is it weird that I was sitting there, writing this Edward POV, and was totally in love with him?**

**That's odd right? **

* * *

**EPOV.**

The elevator made me feel like I was enclosed in a tomb.

The air felt like it had stopped circulating and instead was just pressing in on me, heavy and oppressive, as I struggle to breath through constricted lungs.

My vision was murky, blurred, as if I was under a film of water, trying to see out.

Though I knew it was warm, my skin felt cold and clammy, as if I were a man on Death's door.

The only thing that was keeping me anchored in sanity was the hand I had pressed into the small of Bella's back. Though she was the reason for my now constant feeling of trepidation, she was also the only one who could keep my knees knocking together like a frightened colt's.

What did my mother say she had felt, when she had just found out about Angela and Carlisle?

_The only one who can stop me from crying is the one that made me start_.

Bella and I had barely spoken since she had resignedly accepted my proposal last night. In all fairness, I made a fairly good effort of distracting us both with a series of hard-earned, mind-blowing orgasms, so a lot of talking was not to be expected.

But what had possibly possessed me to propose to my Angel in such a manner?

I had long ago planned out how I was _supposed_ to pop the question. It would be on our first overseas holiday together, we'd be walking down some obscure moonlit beach, and I'd drop to one knee in front of her and declare, "Isabella Swan, I'm lost without you, please marry me".

Instead, I was covered in gore and wine, lying in shattered glass, and offered her oral sex as an enticement.

Not my finest moment.

Not by a long bloody shot.

What was more surprising them my own stupidity was the fact that Bella had _accepted_. Never before had I wanted to read her mind more then I did right now. I wanted to know if she really meant it, if she thought I meant it, if her agreeing to become my wife meant that she didn't want to leave me now.

Dinner last night proved to me that I was already heading down a path of pointless self-destruction. I felt like my world would end when Bella left, like there was nothing left to care about anymore. Though Bella and I had only been together for such a short time, she had become the centre of my universe the moment I saw her, all those months ago. Being devoid of her kind smiles, her strawberry scent, her loving kisses; how could anyone stay sane through that?

So now here we were, on our way to lunch, huddled together in my elevator, a charged silence joining the charge of arousal that always shot through me at her proximity.

One way or another I was determined to talk everything through once we sat down to eat. I couldn't keep doing this – driving myself to insanity with speculation and half-answered questions. Bella and I would talk, because if we didn't talk now, while we still could, then we were never going to.

I used the hand on Bella's back – my tether to sanity – to steer her out of the elevator and into the employee restaurant. I would have liked to do this in a more private setting, but there was so much work to do that we were on a very limited time frame, so the sooner we sat down the better.

We unanimously decided to sit on opposite sides of the booth; though I would usually slide in next to her in order to be able to bury my face in her neck. I needed to ask a few hard questions, and no doubt receive a few hard answers, so it was better that I wasn't distracted by her warm, inviting flesh.

What I didn't plan for was the…visual appeal of Bella. She had been wearing a cardigan all day, but she unbuttoned it (so slowly and sensually that I swore she was doing it on purpose) when she sat down, revealing a tight navy blue, silk dress that dipped low in the front and exposed her glorious neck to me.

From the angle in which I was facing her, I could see the tops of her breasts, curving just above her neckline. That small view of her cleavage, in correspondence with the memories I had of paying homage to her naked breasts, was enough to leave me sufficiently tongue-tied, enough so that Bella had to start our conversation.

"If I order a salad will you eat my baby tomatoes?" She asked, speaking for the first time since agreeing to accompany me to lunch half-an-hour earlier.

"Sure," I agreed, clearing my throat and keeping my eyes firmly locked on my menu. Perhaps it was the fact that I had been rubbing one out to her image for months, or the fact that we had been having wild sex as often as possible in recent times, but I could never seem to control my more primal desires around her.

After a waiter had taken our orders (giving me a surprised look due to the bruising on my face), I cleared my throat, resisted the urge to take Bella's hand, and told her seriously, "Bella love, I think we need to talk."

"Do you think her boobs were real?" Bella responded, eyeing our retreating waiter with an expression of bored scrutiny. I would have believe she was really disinterested, but I knew enough about Bella's personality now to know she retreated into humor when she was nervous.

"I need to apologize to you, yet again," I told her, ignoring her attempts at distraction, "I've been behaving like a sullen child lately instead of talking to you like an adult. Perhaps we could discuss things between us properly?"

Bella sighed as her eyes danced over my face, before leaning back, kicking off her heels, and resting her stocking covered feet in my lap. She wriggled her toes against my thigh – _and hello, Mr. Erection_ – before agreeing, "Alright, lets talk this out. But I want to start."

Considering she was agreeing with me I thought it would be insensitive to beg her to remove her feet from close proximity with my cock, considering they were bringing up vivid memories of what happened last time we were in the same position but in a different restaurant.

"Shoot." I told her, my voice sounding pathetically aroused to my own ears. I had already got my rocks off three times last night, and she could still do this to me with the simplest of gestures.

I was a goner.

"Alrighty then." Bella started determinedly, eyeing the waiter's boobs with mild interest as she set down our food and drinks in front of us. "Firstly, last night was a train wreck, but it was a necessary train wreck, so lets just forget about it, shall we?"

I nicked her tomatoes and internally winced. While I was glad she wasn't blaming me for the ridiculous fight I instigated last night, I wondered whether her "lets forget about it" policy applied to my proposal too. Did she think I was too drunk to remember it, or did she mean to ignore it? Those were questions I needed to ask once she had finished speaking.

"Secondly?" I urged her, eager to have my turn.

"Secondly, I know you don't want me to go to London." Bella looked at her plate, looking guilty and miserable, making me feel the very same emotions. My obvious, selfish behavior was making Bella feel guilt for no reason except that fate had bad timing, and that was unacceptable of me. "And I know a large part of you feeling like that is because you think I'm going to let Jake, what was it, impregnate me with his "devil sperm"?"

I think I actually blushed at that, but I had the good grace to try and look guilty. It was _true_, after all. Jacob Black looked at Bella that same way I did; as if he were madly in love with her.

Bella leant forward, grabbing that hand that wasn't holding my fork in hers. Unfortunately the movement made her feet slide along the inside of my thighs until they were painfully close to my… problem. That combined with her little thumb rubbing circles on my palm, and the horny seventeen-year-old inside me was grinning like that purple striped cat from _Alice In Wonderland_.

"_But_," she stressed, squeezing my hand and oblivious to my need to hump her leg, "I don't want him. I barely wanted him when he thought I wanted him, let alone now that I have you. I've already done some checking, and I won't be anywhere near him during our trip. I've put in a request so I can stay in an all female apartment close to school. I've made sure the scholarship organizers understand I don't want to work with him. I'll be ignoring him there as much as I ignoring him here. Okay?"

My heart was clenching painfully in my chest, and the feeling of being entombed was returning in full force. While I was relieved at the lengths Bella had gone to organize her life so she was away from Black, she was still planning on going.

Which also meant that she _was _going to ignore my proposal. I could hardly blame her, considering the way in which I presented it, but it still made me want to curl up in a miserable ball and weep like a little girl.

"Okay," I croaked finally, having put down my fork, no longer having an appetite. Instead I put my hands under the table and massaged the arches of her feet, concentrating on the silk of her stockings so I could avoid thinking.

Numbness – the last defense of a desperate man.

"Thirdly," Bella pressed on, while wriggling her toes to let me know I was doing a good job, "I want you to know that I don't have any expectations. If you don't want to wait for me, I understand. A year is along time for you to wait for someone who you've only been dating a few weeks. And yeah, that's all I needed to say."

We sat there in silence after she'd finished _that_ ridiculous declaration, until Bella broke it by whimpering. For a second I thought she might be crying, until I realized my hands had clamped down on her ankles in anger and that it was a whimper of pain. I quickly released her, soothing the flesh with the pads of my fingers.

"Sorry," I breathed, leaning towards her. There were only inches between us, now.

"It-" Bella started, but I was cutting in before she could get more then one word out.

"But how could you even say that, Angel? I've told you a thousand times. Excluding the fact that _I LOVE YOU_, I can't even contemplate dating someone else." I was letting too much intensity leak into my words; my voice dropping to a heated whisper as I revealed my deepest truths to her. "Sometimes I want you so fucking bad, I can't think straight. When I'm inside you, Armageddon could be raging around me, and all I'd be able to register is all your fucking warmth and the way I fit in you like I was born to be there. Even now – when we're deciding how our relationship will progress, all I can think about is crawling under this table and seeing you spread out for me."

I could feel Bella's accelerated breathing mingling with my own as I spoke, and knew being honest was probably not the best course of action. I should have just said, "thanks for the offer, but no thanks". Now she looked like if I actually started humping her leg, she'd let me.

"Edward I…" Bella, murmured, trailing off as her eyes darted down to my lips just as mine were doing to hers.

I leant back, desperately trying to break the chemistry that had flared between us, but it did little to help.

"Anyway," I finished, anti-climatically, "the point is; you're it for me."

"Okay." Bella's feet were in my lap again, and she looked like she had no idea what we had been talking about a second ago. The feeling was mutual.

"I guess it's my turn now?"

Bella licked her lips and nodded, succinctly ensuring my mind was an even more befuddled mess. I went back to massaging her feet as I tried to think about what I needed to say.

Most importantly, I needed to apologize for any anguish my recent attitude had caused her. It was not, and never had been, my intention to make her feel like she had something to be guilty for, but my despair at her leaving was such that I couldn't help it.

Then I needed to ask her what she thought about my marriage proposal, and assure her that I was _not _joking or drunk. Well, really, I was a little drunk, but all that did was lower my inhibitions and boost my confidence enough for me to articulate my desire to make her my wife.

Just as I was opening my mouth, Emmett slid into the booth next to Bella, looking sheepish and uncomfortable and with a small cut over the bridge of his nose. I felt guilty seeing the cut, but tried to push it aside. There was only so much guilt I could handle right now, and besides, I'm pretty certain Jasper's ridiculously pointy elbows were to blame.

"Emmett," I greeted, deciding that my big brother had the worst timing on the entire planet.

"Hi?" He said, like a question, looking between Bella and I as if asking approval for his presence. No doubt he was remembering my speech from last night, and how I didn't want to deal with any of them until Bella left.

"It's fine, Em, what's up?" I sighed, calling him "Em" to show him everything was okay. When I had said what I did last night, I had only meant I didn't want to deal with any of my families issues, not that I didn't want to see them at all.

Emmett grinned his relief at me and took an ostentatiously large sip from Bella's Coke. Then he started speaking in a rush, not used to apologizing. "I just wanted to apologize for last night, bro. I shouldn't have gone off on you like that, mom sort of explained the whole situation, and how you've been looking after little bro and Angela for all this time, and I feel like a bit of an ass."

"You _were_ an ass, you ass." Bella growled at him, her hackles raised in my defense.

Emmett rolled his eyes at Bella, but he looked relieved when I smiled at him, showing I understood. After all, when I had first found out about Carlisle, I'd punched him too.

"Where's Jazz's apology?" Bella asked Emmett, a question I already knew the answer to. Jasper would take longer then Emmett to accept my lies, even if they were on our parents behalf.

"He's at a meeting," Emmett lied to us, kindly. Then he saw that I wasn't eating my club sandwich and promptly dragged it towards him. "Anyways, tell me about the little guy? What's his name, etcetera?"

I watched in distaste as a piece of lettuce disappeared into the gaping whole Emmett called a mouth as I moved my hands up to Bella's shins. By doing so I was opening her legs around my knees, and with that as a distraction I tried to recollect some of the details I knew about my younger half-brother.

"He's only a few months old, he's as tiny as mom said Jasper was, his name is Ben Weber, and Angela's taken him down to her parents place for a few weeks so they can meet him."

"Is Angela…?" Emmett trailed off awkwardly, leading me to know exactly which kind of questions he wanted to ask.

"Angela is very kind woman, Em." I warned him, my fingertips reaching the backs of Bella's knees. "She doesn't want anything; though of course Carlisle is providing the best financial support. In fact, she prefers if Ben _doesn't _have to take the Cullen name, so he can avoid any stigma that will be attached, not to mention the publicity. All she wants is for her baby to have a loving family."

"Well he's going to have a family," Emmett, said, with the same fierceness I had displayed once I had found out. "Mom and dad will just have to suck it up and get used to it. But seriously, Angela sounds like a nice gal, I'll have to meet her properly soon."

I remember the way Angela walked into my office to announce she would be taking her maternity leave, and how she had suggested Bella for her job with a conspiratorial wink. As I mused on Angela's thoughtfulness as my hands reached Bella's thighs. She was slouching in her seat to get closer to me, just as I was leaning forward in mine.

"She's been through a lot, and she's never once lashed out at anyone." I explained to Emmett, "plus, and this makes her damn near perfect in my books; Angela knew how I felt about Bella, and she encouraged our relationship."

"Yeah, she's not the only PA who did." Emmett snickered, smirking at Bella. Bella, who looked like someone was pointing a loaded gun at her. She was shaking her head frantically at Emmett, obviously telling him to shut the hell up.

"HOLY SHIT ON A STICK!" Emmett boomed, causing a few heads to turn in our direction. "You _still _haven't told him?"

"We should really get back to the office, Edward." Bella jerked her legs out of my hands and shuffled back into her heels. Only problem was that my mountain-sized brother was sitting between her and a clean exit, grinning like the cat that had canary feathers sticking out of his mouth.

Now my interest was _really _piqued.

"Told me what?" I demanded of Emmett, ignoring the panic looks Bella was shooting between my brother and I.

"Oh, bro!" Emmett laughed, as Bella plunked back down in her seat and slid until barely her forehead was visible. "Bro, bro, bro. Haven't you wondered why innocent little Bella here one day showed up looking like something out of one of our old porn vids?"

At the time I had thought it was my overactive imagination, but Bella's red face (or at least her red forehead) was telling me something different. "How about how she was suddenly reading those stupid _Sleeping Beauty_ books you had to read? Cause our not so innocent little Bella came to us to help seduce your frigid ass, that's why!"

There was a pregnant pause.

Then I started giggling.

There was no other way to describe what I was doing besides that. I was sitting there, rubbing my hands together like some evil overlord, giggling like a Nancy.

Bella had tortured me when she found _Sleeping Beauty_ in my library, and now I find out she had been trying to seduce me all along?

This was going to be brilliant.

Bella gave me a cold look as I continued to giggle and Emmett started guffawing, but I could see the flare of arousal and annoyance and slight fear in her eyes that told me she knew I wasn't going to let this go.

I knew my eyes were intense through my laughter, telling her _that's right darling; you're going to be begging the man you wanted so badly_. Bella got the message loud and clear because she gave me a defiant look and stood up on her seat. Then she proceeded to climb over the back of the booth to get around Emmett, jumped to the ground and stormed out of the restaurant.

"Shit," Emmett laughed, in the wake of Bella's dramatic exit. "She's going to kick my ass later, but that was totally worth it."

"Did she really want me before, Em?" I marveled, eyes locked on the door Bella had disappeared through. "I can't even imagine it."

I was surprised when, instead of a joke, Emmett gave me a sincere pat on the shoulder and told me, "dude, Bella doesn't want anyone but you. You should have seen how determined she was."

I stayed and chatted with Emmett for a while, as he regaled me with tales of the plan Bella, Jasper, Alice, Rosalie and he had come up with to make me give in to my Angel. I was surprised I had been so oblivious, because if I had known Bella Swan had really wanted me I would have…

"Bye, Em." I think I interrupted Emmett mid sentence, but his amused laughter following me to the door let me know he understood.

I had to adjust myself in my elevator as I thought about cornering an angry Bella in her office. She would fight me at first, but the second we touched it would be like kismet.

When I asked Jessica to hold all my calls and visitors she gave a smothered laugh that let me know she knew exactly what I'd be doing. But I couldn't really work up any concern.

Hell, let everyone know that Bella Swan had wanted me too.

As predicted, Bella was pacing her office moodily when I came in, smiling like I had just won the lottery and survived a lightning strike all in one day.

"You wanted me too." She snapped at me as I made a show of locking the door to her office behind me.

"Angel," I smirked in response, wondering if she would follow my request or not. "I think you should bend over you desk, please."

To my shock, Bella shot me an angry look, but she walked up to her desk and promptly leant over it, her ass at a perfect angle for me to observe. I heard her mutter something about me being a "smug jerk", which was absolutely an accurate description of how I was feeling right now.

"Sooo…" I drawled, running my hands at a leisurely pace over her rounded buttocks, kneading her flesh through the barrier of her dress. "You really wanted me, huh?"

"Eat me." Bella growled over her shoulder, a poor choice of words on her part.

I leant over her, running my hands under her dress and pushing my chest into her back. When my mouth was on her neck I gave her a long lick and promised her sincerely, "Oh, my darling Angel, I'll get to that soon enough."

I was supremely satisfied when a shiver ran through her whole body and she made a little gasping sound, so similar to the sound she makes when I first penetrate her that my dick twitched.

"Now," I cooed at her, my fingers finding the tops of her stocking and panties and curling around them. "If you tell me _exactly_ how much you wanted me, _maybe_ I won't make you beg until you're voice is gone."

Bella gave a charming snort in response, which changed to a squeak when I shoved her stockings and panties down her legs.

"After all," I husked, penetrating her with two fingers and quickly pumping them. She was already worked up and the idea that it was for me stirred something crazy in me. "You tied me to a bed and made me insane, so it's only fair I get to return the favor."

"Alright, King of Assholes, I'll tell you _all _about it."

_Oh boy_.

Bella was using her cat's meow voice, which always let me know I was in trouble. She leant down to kick her shoes off, and as she was shimmying out of her stockings she began "telling me all about it".

"You know how sometimes you used to catch me staring off into space?" Bella purred at me, leaning back over with her forearms flat on the table. "That was because I was thinking about you fucking me on my desk – or your desk – or anywhere, really. Ever since I started working here, the only way I could cum when I touched myself is if I thought about you…" she looked over her shoulder, winking at me, "…you, making me yours. _Controlling me_."

I think my brain had shut down. I could remember Bella, sitting at her desk, a glazed look in her eyes as she stared at a wall. I could picture my Angel, lying in her bed, hands under the sheets as she thought about me. Quite simply - all I could think about was having backbreaking sex with Bella until we both passed out.

"Um, yeah." I told her awkwardly, as I quickly freed my engorged cock from my pants. "I know I said I'd go easy on you if you spilled, but turns out that isn't going to happen."

Then in one swift flick of my hips, I had thrust into her so hard that she was lifted to the tips of her toes.

"Shit." We both said at once. Bella was so tight from behind that I had to dig my fingers into her hips to keep from coming straight away.

Once I was in control of myself, I began setting a hard pace, pulling out before slamming all the way back in, right to the hilt on each thrust, our hips grinding together. When Bella started making that little breathless gasping noise – the perfect accompaniment to my harsh grunting – I angled my hips so I was below her, making sure my cock was stimulating her as much as possible.

As I was pounding into Bella, making sounds like a wounded beast, she began swiveling her hips back to meet me, causing my neck to snap back and my eyes to roll.

"Mmm…" I groaned, watching my cock move in and out of her, slick with her juices and my precum. "That's a good girl."

I saw one of Bella's fists uncurl, and her hand disappeared underneath her body. Then I felt her fingers sliding towards her clit, and gave a breathless but cheerful laugh as I quickly yanked her hand away.

"No you don't," I laughed again as she whimpered, "Not until I say."

"Pl-please, Edward?" Bella growled, trying to yank her hand – which was still gripped tight in mine – away.

Because Bella had been all nice and called my name, which she knew I loved, and because I was about to explode (literally) anyway, I used Bella's hips to flip her onto her back. Bella shot daggers at me, but the anger leeched from her stare when I gave he a wicked grin and threw her legs over my shoulders.

I leant in until I was practically folding Bella in half and could press my forehead to hers.

"Keep looking at me," I ordered her, locking her gaze in mine. "Keep looking at me and you can cum with me."

Then from this new angle I entered her again, feeling like I was coming home. The intensity of each movement was ten-fold as her dark eyes enraptured me. I saw the flare in her look every time I slipped inside her heat; saw the same need when I pulled out.

When I knew I could hold off my orgasm no longer, I ran my hand down to Bella's entrance, my fingers slipping over my engorged cock as I pounded into her. I began rubbing her clit to the rhythm of my thrusts, earning the wonderful honor of having Bella moaning my name as she clenched around me, milking my cock and holding me inside her. I came with her, our eyes locked and our breathing joined as we gained pleasure from each other.

As soon as I was able I lowered Bella's legs from my shoulders, filing away her flexibility for future preference. Then I gathered her up in my arms and carried her towards the low couches against the far wall of her office.

"I think we should take the rest of the day off." Bella told me dreamily as I plopped down and pulled her on top of me.

"And what should we do, darling?" I asked her, already agreeing with anything she cooked up. One word from this woman and I would do fucking _anything_.

"Curl up on that comfortable rug in front of the fireplace in your library." Bella explained, leaning in to push her face into my neck and humming in contentment when I began stroking her ravaged hair.

I personally couldn't think of anything I'd rather be doing at any point in time, and when I told Bella this she laughed happily and asked me, "But wasn't there something we were supposed to talk about?"

"Nope," I sighed comfortably.

I couldn't think of a thing.

* * *

**Boy, Edward is easily distracted, aint he?**

**And as most of you will probably guess, Bella does think Edward was drunk and can't remember his proposal. But we'll get to that next chapter.**

**And this was quite a long chapter, so no complaints about my length, please.**

**I can now see why that offends guys!**

**My 21****st**** b'day is in a few days, so it'll probably be a week(ish) before my next update.**


	35. Play Time

**Thank you all for you wonderfully kind birthday wishes. Sorry it's been so long between updates, but I really struggled to work out how I wanted to structure the last few chapters of HPA. **

**Also, again, I'll be writing another story very soon after HPA, and I'd love if you put me on Authors Alert and read it! **

**ALSO: ANYONE WHO HAS PM'D OR REVIEWED IN THE LAST 13 DAYS, I HAVEN'T HAD A CHANCE TO REPLY BUT I WILL SOON!**

**Anyway, without further ado, here's some office sex! **

* * *

**BPOV.**

The last few days had been one giant lesson in avoidance.

It was like Edward and I had made some unspoken agreement to just keep everything, well – _unspoken_. Instead of worrying about what could have been, what is, what might become, we worried about nothing and no one.

We spent every waking, every dreaming second together, wrapped up in a cocoon of warmth and lust and love and laughter.

Lunch on Monday was the last time Edward and I had spoken about the status of "us". I had gotten my chance to air my views then, telling him about all the special provisions I had made so that I could avoid Jacob in London. I told him that I didn't expect him to wait for me while I was gone (something that he had vehemently disagreed with).

And I told him to forget about everything that happened on Sunday night, at, and after, the disastrous family dinner.

Though the Walking Alp (also known as Emmett) had interrupted before Edward could say his peace, I was fairly certain (judging by prior experience) that he had little or no recollection of proposing to me. Or of the fact that I had accepted with barely any reservation, despite the unconventional manner in which he had made the offer. Instead, we spent the last few days wrapped up in each other and our friends, keeping things light.

Of course, since Judas (also known as Emmett) had explained to my deliriously happy boyfriend that I had actively tried to seduce him, Edward had been teasing me constantly. Things like, "_baby, I think you should let me fuck you on my washing machine, considering how much you want me_", or "_darling, can I eat the rest of my dessert off your chest? You might as well let me, I know how hot you are for me_".

Though I had every intention of taking out my revenge on both Smugward (also known as Edward) and Gigantor (also known as Emmett), I wanted today to be a day that my darling boy would never forget.

It was Friday; eighteen days before I was scheduled to leave for London.

It was also my last day at Cullen International Corporation.

I planned on using my remaining few hours here productively.

With so many other shitty things happening, and despite the fact that he had been acting like an arrogant ass over the seducing the boss thing, I figured Edward deserved a treat.

So Thursday night I told Edward, considering I only had one day left in the office, and considering we always stayed later then anyone else due to his work load, that he could pick one office related fantasy to live out with me once we were alone.

When I told Edward (who looked at me like I had just morphed into an embodiment of Christmas), I presumed he would be banging me on the photocopier, or something equally porn related. Instead, he surprised me by giving me two very simple instructions:

1. Pretend he and I had never gotten together.

2. Actively resist him for as long as possible.

* * *

I couldn't believe out of any fantasy he could pick, any role-play, any free pass related fun, he picked a plausible fantasy that was all about me and him. Hell, if I hadn't worked up the courage to ask Rose and Alice to recruit the guys help that night at Victory Nightclub, his fantasy would be utter reality.

Needless to say, these instructions had me squirming and turned-on for the entire day, and it was with a pounding heart and freshly applied lip-gloss that I began gathering my things for our Friday night ritual.

Every Friday night since I had become Edward's First Assistant, we sat on the comfortable couch in his office and organized the coming weeks schedule, sorting through the previous weeks invitations and meeting requests.

Since we had started dating, it involved a lot of Edward trying to feel me up while I tried to focus on work. Before then, it involved a lot of Edward and I shooting each other covert glances while the other was looking away. To live out whatever fantasy Edward had in mind, I had to change my mindset so I could get back to the before.

The _before; w_hen the sexual frustration was at such a high voltage between us that we had enough electricity to light up New York.

Edward was waiting for me on what had always been his side of the couch, his posture perfect, the sleeves of his black shirt rolled up, his tie gone, his grey chinos crumpled and a pen stuck behind one ear. His eyes were bland as he greeted me politely, "Miss. Swan."

I had forgotten how indifferent, how distant his voice used to be around me. It should have put me in the right mindset to play out his game, but unfortunately it was the same voice he used when he was turned-on and trying to control himself.

So all I could think about, remember, was him saying things like;

_"I think that's_ exactly _what I want. Beg. Beg me." _

"_You really think __you __control __me__, little Angel?" _

"_Can you spread your legs, please?" _

"_You don't control me unless I let you, remember?" _

Possibly not the best idea, dredging up all those insanely hot memories.

I took a deep, shuddering breath to try and calm my nerves, and then answered him as steadily as I could, "Evening, Mr. Cullen. Are you ready to go over your schedule now?"

"Of course." He said mildly, indicating to the other side of the couch. "Please be seated."

I hastily lowered myself onto the couch, sitting as far away from him as it allowed and plopping a stack of invitations and memos between us. Edward had often told me how the fact that I was oblivious to him "eye fucking" me had turned him on something fierce, so I purposely made sure my knee-high pencil skirt rode up, exposing the tops of my stockings and the clips of my garter belt.

If Edward _was_ eye fucking me then he hid it very well, asking me calmly, "Are you sure we aren't running too late for you this evening, Miss. Swan?" It was after six, as we'd both decided to wait until the entire office had cleared out before our little game begun. "I'd dislike keeping you from any prior engagements."

I almost snorted out loud at that. Edward had already confessed that he had made sure to keep our little Friday night ritual up so he could purposely eat into my personal time, wanting to keep me with him for as long as possible.

"Not at all, Sir." I smiled, catching his eye as he turned towards me in his seat. "Besides, the sooner we start the sooner we can finish."

"My sentiments exactly." Edward agreed, leaning towards me as be grabbed the first memo off the pile. It was caught slightly under my thigh, and I felt the tip of his finger barely graze the exposed skin between the tops of my stockings and the end of bunched up skirt as he picked it up.

If it had been a few months ago, I would have though the gesture was purely coincidental; a product of my overactive imagination. Now I knew Edward better and had no doubt in my mind that it was utterly deliberate.

Smooth motherfucker.

"Anderson Acquisitions wants a lunch meeting on Wednesday. Does that clash with anything else I have on, Miss. Swan?" Edward said, deliberately ignoring my blushing cheeks, focusing on reading the memo in front of him.

Game on, Cullen. There was no way in hell I could go back to being the demure girl I had been when I started here, so I went back to the girl I had been after I decided to seduce his gorgeous ass.

Basically – a cock-tease.

I leant over the pile so I could read the invitation, deliberately letting my curled hair fan out across one shoulder and giving him a good view down my tight white shirt. Then I stuck the end of my pen in my mouth, sucking on it as I contemplated what I was reading.

"1:30 is probably too early," I murmured to Edward, keeping my voice low but my eyes wide and innocent. "You won't be finished with the conference call from Integra in Tokyo."

Edward growled, breaking character (so to speak), for a second as he glared at me; knowing perfectly well I was teasing him. But he quickly recovered, smiling slyly before his face became a calm mask again.

"I think we can push Tokyo back to Thursday, Miss. Swan. The Anderson's meeting is far more important. Do you think you could get to numbers for the Integra people so we can call them and reschedule?"

Hmm. Edward knew I had the numbers in my office. Which meant that he wanted me to leave the room for a minute. I wanted to raise an eyebrow in question, but instead of breaking character I ducked my head submissively.

I released the pen slowly from my mouth, feeling his eyes boring into me as I did. "Not a problem, Sir." I told him when my mouth was free, getting up and heading to the door.

I didn't bother to fix my skirt, so I knew he was getting a nice view of my hips as I left. I kept the door to Edward's office slightly ajar as I exited, wondering whether I could hear whatever it was Edward was doing. I did hear him get off the couch, but all I heard was silence for a minute before he sat back down. Giddily excited, I let out a silent squeal and quickly located and jotted down the Integra numbers.

Before I contemplated heading back in, I popped open two more buttons on my shirt, exposing the top of my sheer lacy bra, hiked my skirt up a little more and messed up my hair so it looked like someone had been ravaging me. Perfected, I sauntered back in.

As the door clicked close behind me, I saw that he was exactly where I had left him, on his side of the couch, now with one ankle resting on one knee. I strutted towards him, his dark eyes raking my body from head to toe and back again. As I was sitting down once more I saw that he had crossed his legs to hide the bulge in his chinos, and barely resisted calling him on it before he shifted to hide from me more effectively.

"Lets keep going, shall we?" Edward asked evenly, obviously aiming for a bored and nonchalant tone, and failing only because I knew this was _his_ fantasy and that he was as aroused as I was.

"Should I ring Integra now, Mr. Cullen?" I asked him, making sure to purr his name a little at the end, while giving him a look of complete, angelic innocence.

"No, I think that can probably wait until tomorrow, Miss. Swan."

Ah_-hah_, then why send me out of the room, Goober?

My silent question wasn't answered until half an hour later, when we had finished organizing his schedule and I had logged all the information into his Blackberry and the CIC database.

"That didn't take too long, did it?" Edward asked once we were finished, politely covering a yawn behind his hand and organizing my messy pile of papers into a semblance of order.

I frowned as I nodded my agreement with him, wondering how the hell this constituted living out a fantasy. Instead of answering my frown, Edward held out the stack of documents to me, giving me the same distant smile I had seen a thousand times before.

I took them off him in confusion, standing and straightening my skirt as I tried to work out what he was doing. "Well…Good night, Mr. Cullen."

"Drive safely, Miss. Swan." Edward dismissed me, un-tucking the pen from behind his ear and picking up a file from the coffee table in front of him. This was obviously his "character" talking, as Edward had driven me to work this morning.

I walked over to the door, shooting him a look over my shoulder as I went. He looked completely absorbed in the documents in front of him, so much so that I wondered whether we were really playing or not. That was until I tried to turn the door handle and was met with only resistance.

Which answered my question as to what Edward was doing when I was out of the room. He had turned the key in the lock of his door, meaning that the next time it clicked close it would be locked.

Sneaky boy.

"Mr. Cullen," I said in my best timid voice, not turning around as I fiddled with the door handle. "The door is locked."

"Yes." He said simply, and I could hear him put the file back on the coffee table. "I know."

"Do you have the key, Sir?" I asked him, turning to shoot him a shy glance over my shoulder. I knew the little scared act would drive him nuts.

"I do." Edward answered, walking to his desk and leaning back on it, his hands on either side of him and his erection glaringly obvious. As I turned towards him, I made sure to let my eyes linger on his crotch as if I was shocked that my boss was all hard and achy.

"May I have it, please, Mr. Cullen?" I asked as I stared, Master of double-speak, letting the question come out as a nervous whimper.

Edward studied me for a second; the low, artistic lighting of his office ensuring his face was hidden in shadows. Then he slowly reached into the pocket of his shirt and pulled out the key, holding it out to me in the flat palm of his hand.

"Come and get it." He murmured huskily, his voice barely reaching me on the other side of the room. I hesitated, biting my lip as if uneasy, before I cautiously made my way towards the offering.

Edward's eyes were locked with mine as I came towards him, face blank but eyes intense. His whole body was perfectly tense, besides the slight rise and fall of his chest, and I knew he was clenching every one of his muscles in anticipation.

When I was close enough that I could just reach his outstretched hand, I stretched my own towards him, letting the tips of our fingers meet before I trailed them towards the key. As soon as I felt the cold metal on the pads of my fingers, Edward's hand closed around my wrist like a vice, and he twisted me around and yanked me so my back was to him, my body standing between his opened legs.

Right.

Actively resist him for as long as possible.

Easier said then done.

Edward's breathing was heavy on the back of my neck as I struggled in his iron grip and complained shrilly, "Mr. Cullen! Stop! This is incredibly inappropriate! Let me go!"

"After I went to all the trouble of locking you in here? I don't think so, little girl." His voice was an angry hiss in my ear, and I didn't have to fake my whimper this time. Holy shit, but Angryward was hot.

"Please let me go," I moaned in a scared voice, as Edward flipped me around by wrapping his hands around the tops of my arms. His hands then pulled my shoulders up into a painful shrug, bringing me closer to his lowered face.

"Why would I do that? I haven't nearly gotten what I wanted from you…" he crowed victoriously, while nudging my hair to the side with his nose, and taking a long, aggressive lick of my neck, "…_yet_."

Even though all I wanted to do was lick the fucker right back, I played my innocent little virgin role, squirming until he let me go and swiftly grabbing the key out of his hand.

"Miss. Swan." Edward grated out warningly as I danced out of his reach. "You're not going anywhere."

I quickly ran to the door, fingers shaking in excitement as I tried to fit the key in the lock. Would Edward chase me? What would he do when he caught me? I didn't have a chance to find out. Just as I managed to click the key in, Edward's arms snaked around my waist and I found myself unceremoniously thrown onto the couch, my body bouncing once before I settled, lying with my feet at one end and my head at the other.

Before I could scramble into a sitting position, Edward's came down on top of me, linking his fingers with mine and holding them on either side of my head. I began shifting helplessly under him, struggling in such a manner that my thigh rubbed purposefully against his erection.

"Please let me up." I begged as Edward's eyes fixed on my heaving chest. A few more of the buttons on my shirt had popped open; completely exposing the see-through half-cup bra I was wearing. "Let me up!"

Edward snapped out of his daze quickly, moving my hands over my head so he could hold them in one of his and keep his other hand free. Then he leant in and cooed, "shh, little Angel. Don't panic. I'd never force you."

"Then why are you doing this?" I sobbed up at him, making sure my words shook in fear. Meanwhile, my thighs were sticky with how much this was turning me on.

Edward gave me a chaste peck on the cheek at the same time as his free hand was undoing the remaining buttons on my shirt. "I'm not going to force you, Angel," he repeated as he yanked my shirt out from my skirt. "I'm going to bend you to _my _will."

"You most certainly _won't_, you bastard!" I cried out, bucking my hips against his in another faux attempt to get up.

Edward grinded back into me aggressively, as he released my hands so he could yank my shirt off. "Yes, I most certainly _will_," he promised me grimly, grabbing my hands again and moving in towards my lips, "and it will be my pleasure to mould you to my desires."

He captured my mouth with his, opening and closing his lips over my throbbing bottom lip in a warm, moist kiss. I tried to twist my head to the side, but Edward's free hand left the buttons of his own shirt to capture my chin and hold me in place. I couldn't believe how much it was arousing me just to pretend I didn't want to want him, and I knew it was making Edward crazy too, considering the way he was grunting into his kiss.

"You open your mouth for me," Edward ordered, running his tongue over the seam of my lips as I thrashed against him. My resistance faltered for the tiniest second, and that was all he needed, plunging his tongue past my lips and rolling it over my own.

I made an animalistic sounding protest that was drowned out by his tongue. He would have ignored it anyway, as he dominated my mouth, demanding a response from me with the velvety slide of his tongue against mine. Just when I thought I was about to pass out from lack of oxygen, Edward tore his mouth away with a reluctant groan.

His spare hand moved downwards, dragging over one sensitized nipple through the sheer silk of my bra. While his fingers toyed one with the right nipple, tugging it into a sharp point, the heat of his mouth descended on the other.

"STOP!" I gasped loudly, though what I really wanted to do was latch my hands (still restrained in his) into that bronze head of hair.

Edward drew up from my nipple long enough to smile apologetically at me. "I'm sorry, Miss Swan." He told me in a sincere voice. "But the time when you had a say in matters is long since past."

And then he pushed the cup of my bra aside and took as much of one breast into his mouth as he could. When he repeated the same torture on my other breast I completely lost it, pushing down on his shoulders in a unsubtle gesture that meant, "_lower, pretty please_."

Edward snapped his head up and gave me a wolfish grin of triumph. "Yes?" he asked cruelly, but thankfully he was already pushing my skirt up with quick and nimble fingers. He carefully unclasped my garter belt from my stockings, but made no move to remove either garment. Instead, my panties were roughly lowered and left dangling over one ankle.

"I've wanted to taste your sweet little pussy since the first day I saw you, Miss. Swan," Edward snarled at me as he lowered himself down my body. His hand was no longer restraining mine, but at this point I would gladly flop back and tuck my legs behind my ears for him. Thankfully, Edward was content to spread my legs in a ruthlessly possessive gesture and concentrate his attentions on an entirely needy part of my body.

The same sensual pleasure I always experienced when his tongue and fingers were touching my wet swollen flesh washed over me, so terrifying in its intensity that I could hardly breathe let alone think. With what little brain functions I retained, I remembered my role and let out a strangled moan of denial. I also made a feeble, half-hearted attempt to close my legs, but he held me firm and still as his tongue lapped greedily at my clit and his fingers curled inside me.

I could feel the delicious pressure curling in my womb, and I arched my spine and dug my fingers into the couch as I came all over Edward's fingers.

The next thing I was aware of was being methodically and very, _very _quickly stripped of my clothes, and when I opened my clenched eyes I saw Edward simply removing his belt buckle and lower his zip, his eyes scanning my flushed face with ill-disguised satisfaction as his cock sprung free. He hadn't been wearing anything underneath, and for some reason that made me even more insane.

In a moment of coherent thought, I tried to live up to his fantasy, reaching over for my skirt as if attempting to cover myself up. Edward's hand immediately closed around my wrist as he lowered himself between my legs. "Not a chance." He warned me, ripping the skirt out of my hand. "You never cover up until I say so, Miss. Swan. And I haven't _nearly _finished with you yet."

Holy shit that was hot. I felt his length pressed inside my damp thighs, and I writhed beneath him, trying to relieve the burning need that was once again threatening to consume me completely.

"Something the matter, my coy little assistant?" Edward taunted me, his eyes devouring my nakedness. "Is there something you want from me, the man you shamelessly taunt with your tight body everyday?"

I arched into him wordlessly, unable to properly comprehend that he was still playing a game, more concerned with the way my body was throbbing from his all too skilled seduction.

"Say it," Edward said harshly, shifting his weight so that his lithe body was aligned with mine in a perfect fit (would he but push forward). At the feeling of his silken arousal nestled hard against my wet heat, I curled my legs around his waist, arching in mute invitation.

_Still_ he held himself back, his gaze faintly mocking as he looked down at me.

"Time to open that pretty mouth and confess. Tell me you want me, my Bella," he commanded as I lay looking up at him, totally in his control, my heart beating rapidly and my body overtaken by a powerful craving that I just had to satisfy. It was just so intense that Edward had wanted me for all those months and that _this _scenario would have been the accumulation of those desires.

"You." I groaned in defeat, jerking under him in a wanton attempt to get closer. "You, I want you. Mr. Cullen, _please_."

"You know my name, my Bella, use it." Edward smirked, really trying to torture me now.

"Edward, please, I want you…" I growled, because I would play any game he wanted if it got me what _I_ wanted.

With a groan of satisfaction, Edward slid an arm under my hips, lifted me in a decisive movement, and thrust into me with barely constrained force. He kept still once he was inside me, and, his eyes holding mine, Edward lowered his head and captured my mouth, teasing and tasting with his tongue until my whole body was burning hot and bucking up into his.

"Keep looking at me." Edward ordered once our mouths separated, his pupils dilated as he stared. "Don't you dare look away."

I made sure to keep my gaze on him, and only then did he move again. Each stroke was deep and hard, but also incredibly slow. I could feel every centimetre of his cock as it stretched me slowly and roughly, making the whole experience unbearably erotic.

I clawed and clutched at his broad shoulders, covered by his unbuttoned shirt. I slid my hands under the offensive material and down his muscular back, feeling his trembling with the exertion of going slow. But the degree of strength and power that he's so carefully leashed on my account slipped when my hands clutched his hips and tried to grind him harder into me.

Edward gave a growl of satisfaction deep in his throat and started thrusting harder, each movement of his hips deliberate yet animalistic as he controlled me and drove me towards completion. My orgasm came unexpectedly, as with a strangled cry of disbelief my body convulsed around his.

It was wild and uninhibited and totally outside my control, but one look into Edward's intense eyes told me it was well within _his _control. I heard him mutter something rough and unintelligible against my cheek as he continued to pound into me, before he gave a harsh groan, grabbed my hips, burying himself as deep as possible. It was the frantic convulsions of my own climax that propelled Edward towards his, the muscles of his shoulder bunching under my hands as I felt him release in me.

For a long moment we lay still, our breathing gradually dialling down from asthma attack level to normal.

"So," Edward finally said, rolling us over so I was curled up on his chest. "What do you think of my deepest, darkest fantasies?"

I lazily looked up at him and saw that he was smirking in a way that told me he already knew the answer to that.

"Edward," I answered him anyway, "I think they deserve an encore."

* * *

**More plot in next few chapters for those (those few crazies) who like it more then office sex, promise!**


	36. Tweedle's

** Go and read "The Blessing and the Curse" by The Black Arrow. It is officially my favorite fan fic at the moment.**

**So here's Bella's revenge on Emmett and Edward!**

**

* * *

BPOV.**

I clung to the man standing next to me, my pink nails digging into the expensive sleeves of his shirt. He held me with equal vigor, his arms wrapped in a protective embrace around my quaking shoulders.

"What are we going to do?" I asked him in a timid voice, staring up at his handsome face with wide, fearful eyes. The man rubbed my shoulder reassuringly as he looked down at me with a similar expression painted across his usually serene visage.

"I don't know Bella," he told me in a heavy voice, "I just don't _know_."

Before I could formulate a plan, a loud, booming voice reached our hiding place, making me jump in his arms.

"YOU SNEAKY PRICKS ARE GOING _DOWN_!"

At the sound of Emmett's fury, Jasper's arm dropped from my shaking shoulder, both of us laughing too hard to keep up our scared act.

"Do we keep hiding, or d'you think we should make a run for it?" Jasper asked me, wiping a tear from his eye. I could barely make out the gesture in the dim light filtering under the closet door.

"Pfft. What's the worst Emmett could do?" I grinned, aiming for nonchalance.

"He could sit on us, naïve Bella." Jasper told me, completely straight-faced. "I've had that Mammoth jump on me before, and I swear to god, it felt I was a midget being violated by a Sumo wrestler."

I cleared my throat pompously and admonished him, "actually, I believe the politically correct term is "little person", Jazz."

"I'LL FIND YOU, YOU FUCKERS!" Emmett sounded much closer now. Jasper and I were hiding in the small walk-in closet in one of Edward's endless spare bedrooms, probably driving Emmett nuts as he searched in every nook of the vast penthouse to find us.

It was five days before my flight to London, and Alice and Rose had conned Edward into letting them host a "Bon Voyage" party at his place. Neither Edward nor I had been particularly keen about celebrating my going away, but Rose and Alice had reasonably pointed out that I had a responsibility to say goodbye to all my N.Y friends.

_Responsibility again_.

Responsibility or not, I had decided that my party was the perfect setting to extract a little revenge on the Judas that was Emmett Cullen.

Since finding out last Monday that I had made a plan to gander the goods hidden beneath his tailored suit, Edward had been an even more insufferable ass then usual, suggesting insanely vivid sexual things for us to do (most of which involved him having complete and utter control over my body). Then when I told him repeatedly that I'd rather fuck a duck then give in to his smug demands, he using his cooing voice and would add something like "but _you've_ wanted _me_ for so long, darling."

Despite the fact that I let him do all those perfectly wicked things to me (mostly because I really did want his fine ass) I was about ready for a little payback, against both him and his stupid brother for opening his big mouth.

Jasper had been more then willing to help me in my quest for revenge, and we had been scheming for the last few weeks, so that our plan would be ready by my party tonight.

So when Emmett finally found the closet we were hiding in, we were completely ready for him, standing side by side and smiling like a pair of Angels.

"Do either of you want to explain to me why half of New York is under the impression that I'm a GIGALO?" Emmett growled at us as we stepped out of the closet, waving his phone in ours faces like it was irrefutable evidence.

Jasper and I looked at each other, paused, and then cracked up laughing. We had gone through pretty much every single female acquaintance we had between us and suggest giving Emmett Cullen a call. That was Stage One of our Revenge Campaign, as Jasper had named it. With the way Jasper had been strategizing our little Campaign, I could swear he was a military dictator in a past life.

"Because we told everyone you were single, filthy rich and looking for a good time?" I answered him, smirking as the horror of that sunk in. "Oh, and did I mention that EVERY one of those girls is invited to the par-tay tonight?"

"Rosie made me sleep on the couch after the FIFTEENTH phone call! She kicked me out of my own bed after living in my house for TWO DAYS!" Emmett spluttered indignantly at us.

"Um, don't you have like six spare bedrooms?" Jasper asked solicitously, biting his lip to keep from laughing.

Emmett's arms flailed as he agitatedly answered Jasper's question. "Yeah, but Rosie said I had to sleep on the fucking couch, something about the symbolism of the punishment, or some shit!" Then he wagged his sausage-sized finger in my face. "Don't think I don't know what this is about! You're getting me back for telling Eddie-boy that you were panting after his ass! Well let me tell you, Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee, you two are calling EVERY SINGLE ONE of these women and getting my ass off the couch!"

Edward chose that moment to walk through the door, looking frazzled. His frown cleared up when he spotted me, making it clear he had been looking for me since Jazz and I had disappeared after Emmett's arrival. Then he took in agitated Emmett pointing and glaring, and the matching evil grins on Jasper's face and my own.

"What's up?" he grinned, like he was about to be let in on whatever joke we were playing on Emmett.

_Oh, Edward._

_The jokes on you, too_.

"Not much, little brother." Jasper shrugged casually. "Me and Tweedle Dee here are _about to_ get back at Emmett for opening his big mouth to you."

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU MEAN "ABOUT TO"? You've already gotten me back!" Emmett roared, pacing around like a maniac.

"Oh no," I corrected, giving both him and Edward a large smirk, "that was just to get your attention. _Now _comes the real revenge."

Edward seemed distractedly amused by the whole thing, more concerned with yanking me away from Jasper so he could cuddle up to me. "What's the revenge for?" he asked once his hand was scratching my scalp through my straightened hair.

I think I drooled a little at his educated touch, but Edward's smugly satisfied look brought me back to reality. _This _was why I was getting revenge.

"For telling you about me um…" I trailed off, not knowing how to put the whole thing delicately. Emmett had no qualms about delicacy.

"About her wanting to be all up on your crotch!" he growled, still looking like he was about to go all Sumo on Jasper and me.

Edward's face fell as Jasper and I turned on him. His hand lowered from my hair as he took a weary step back, much like a man would when confronted by two vicious animals.

"Ah," he said nervously, glancing at the open door as if considering making a run for it, "why do I have a feeling I'm going to be included in this?"

"Maybe because you've been an insufferable prick for the last few weeks and you deserve anything we dish out?" I asked him dangerously, advancing on him as he backed away.

Edward's back hit the wall as he looked between his brothers and I in panic. "Well, hate to break it to you, but you two don't have any leverage over me."

Jasper snorted and threw an arm around Emmett's broad shoulders.

"Yeah, we sort of discussed that," Jasper laughed, trying to keep his voice as kind as possible. He and Edward had talked out the whole Carlisle issue earlier in the week, but they were still being extra kind to one another in the wake of their fight. "And we figured all we needed a little negative reinforcement."

"Negative reinforcement?" Edward questioned nervously, eyeing me like I was about to drop a live grenade down his pants.

"Well you see, we've got positive reinforcement to get Emmett to do what we want." I explained in my best dangerous purr. "All we have to do is explain to him that we'll tell every one of those girls that he's off the market and he'll agree to anything we want."

"And what do you want, you sneaky shits?" Emmett asked me, jabbing his elbow into Jasper's side to get him to remove his arm.

"Ehem." Jasper cleared his throat and formally launched into the explanation of the torture we had picked out for tonight. "Bella and I have composed a list of dares that you must follow before we fix your little…gigolo problem. Positive reinforcement."

"And what's my negative reinforcement?" Edward repeated, though he cringed when Jasper and I turned to look at him, as if regretting drawing attention to himself.

I held back a laugh. Getting Edward to participate would take a lot less effort then it did with Emmett. I blinked my eyes a few times, trying to draw moisture into them, and came up to Edward until we were toe to toe and I could fist his shirt in my hands.

"Please Edward?" I begged him in my best broken voice. "Please play our game? I've been doing everything you wanted lately," (I left out the part that mentioned he hadn't exactly had to twist my arm to get me to participate in his lewd sexual fantasies). "Don't you want to make me happy too? Please?"

"That's. Not. Fair." Edward growled down at me, even though he looked like he wanted nothing more then to take me into his arms and comfort me in any way possible, while alternatively looking like he wanted to strangle me.

I was fucking diabolical. "Please?" I asked him again in a small voice, leaning in to bury my face in his neck. "Please play with me? Please?"

While this seemed to be getting to him, I knew I needed to pull out the big guns to seal the deal. "Besides, don't think you're getting me into your bed again until I've seen a little public humility. You _so_ have it coming, Mr. Cullen."

"Fuck." Edward growled, but it was a growl of defeat this time, as his hard arms came up to cradle me to his chest. "You little cheat."

_Ha_. Lack of sex, the best threat in the world. I quickly flashed him a triumphant grin and turned to high five Jasper.

"It's on like Donkey Kong!" Jasper crowed, as we jumped up and down excitedly while Edward and Emmett looked on in disgust.

By the time Edward and Emmett had been briefed on their series of dares, about twenty people, a combination of our work colleagues, college friends, and random friends had started to build up in his open space lounge room/kitchen/bar area. Alice had invited every single person I had ever been on good terms with, plus a whole bunch of randoms that either her, Rose, or the guys had known.

I was also eternally grateful that Alice had decided not to invite Jacob; I'm pretty certain it would have come to blows if he and Edward were around each other for another extended period. Jacob and I had only spoke a handful of times since we had dinner with Edward, and each time he had tried to flirt profusely while I gave him a _the Devil Wears Prada_, Miranda Priestly level of cold shoulder.

"You guys are up," Jasper whispered to Edward and Emmett as the four of us came back into the main party area. There was a low hum of some generic popular music playing, which I knew would get louder as the night wore on.

Alice and Rose shot all four of us death glares for disappearing as they took peoples coats at the front door, and Edward and Emmett shot Jasper and I death glares as they went over towards our arriving guests.

"Go get em', Sparky," I grinned at Edward giving him a light tap on the ass and earning an involuntary grin from him. Jasper and I waited, partially obscured in the kitchen, as he and Emmett went forward to begin their ridiculous dares.

Edward's dares were to:

_Ignore the first five people who say hello to him._

_Finish the end of every sentence with the words, "in accordance with the prophecy"._

_Ask at least six people what sex they are, and when they answer, laugh hysterically._

Emmett's dares were to:

_Refer to everyone as "Dave", even after they correct him._

_After every sentence, say "Mon" in a bad Jamaican accent._

_Leave his fly open, and when people point it out to him say "sorry, I really prefer it this way."_

Jasper and I had spent painstaking hours scouring the net for the best dares we could come up with, and had settled on those three humiliating dares per brother.

It was completely worth the hard work. Lauren, a cow from the tenth floor who used to be one of Edward's assistants, and Mike Newton, the resident office flirt, were the first two to be subjugated by the Edward and Emmett comedy duo.

"Hey guys!" Mike said loudly as Rose took his coat. Edward was the closet to him, though he wasn't allowed to return his greeting, instead having to stand there looking like a douche.

"Hello, Mr. Cullen," Lauren purred at him, making it even more hilarious when Edward did nothing but stare at her blankly.

Before the tension could get too much, (and before Jasper and I could bust ribs trying not to laugh), Emmett came in, smiling widely and clapping Mike on the back.

"Dave!" he said in his booming voice, sparing us a wince over his shoulder. "Good of you to make it, _Mon_! And look…" he turned towards Lauren, who was shooting silent Edward angry looks, "…you brought Dave with you. Lovely, _Mon_." His Jamaican accent was so bad that it sounded slightly German.

Mike and Lauren were looking between the Cullen brothers as if they were seriously debating the wisdom of coming to my party.

"Um, Emmett, the names Mike, and this is Lauren." Mike told him delicately, leaning and trying to be discreet about it. "Also, your fly is undone, buddy."

Emmett looked down, gave Jasper and me another withering glance, and told Mike, in a cheery voice, "sorry, Dave, but I really do prefer it that way."

Then he walked off, leaning a stunned Mike and Lauren in his wake. Before either of them could recover, and now that he had already ignored their greetings, Edward cleared his throat politely and went up to Lauren.

"Excuse me, in accordance with the prophecy," he said in a courteous manner, "but what sex are you?"

Lauren looked like she was about to run after Rosalie and grab her coat. "Um – female?" she answered, as if it was a trick question.

Edward paused, looked back at us, raked his eyes over Lauren, and then burst into a fit of giggles.

Now Mike and Lauren were looking at him as if he was wearing a straightjacket. It was pure brilliance; even more so when Edward gave us the finger through his hysterical giggling fit.

"Tweedle Dum," I whispered to Jazz, "we are freakin' legends."

"Tweedle Dee," he responded with a jaunty grin, "we really are."

* * *

At some point towards the end of the night I had to slip away to grab a few spare platters for the catering staff. Personally, I found the need for catering and drinks staff ridiculous, but Alice had insisted on it and Edward had, of course, insisted on paying.

It had been difficult to play the part of proper hostess with Edward and Emmett as entertainment all night. I was actually shocked that Edward had agreed to play along with the dares, especially considering he surely knew I could never _actually _withhold sex from him. I was pretty certain he enjoyed getting reactions out of people, if the pleased grin he unconsciously wore was anything to go by.

Even secretly enjoying himself, I should have known Edward would never just let the threat of abstinence go.

I was standing in one of the dark storage closets near the laundry, using the light filtering in from the hallway to try and find some spare platters, when the door suddenly closed behind me. The drifting noise from the party and my sparse light were abruptly cut off.

Thinking the door had simply swung shut, I moved to open it with a grumble, but was stopped dead in my tracks when I heard the lock clicking in place.

_Please be Edward…Please be Edward…Please be Edward…_

"You totally owe me, Angel," his soft voice reached me, and I was so thankful that it was him and not some serial killer that I didn't bother making him add an "in accordance with the prophecy".

"Don't even think about it, Edward," I warned him, though my shaking voice betrayed my desire. "We have guests waiting."

"Guests who now think I'm insane." Edward pointed out in a sweet little croon that was completely phony. "So I don't think any of them would miss us for a few minutes. Besides, the risqué factor of fucking my girl in a closet while sixty people wander around my house is an opportunity not to be missed."

Though I really wanted to test out his nobody missing us theory, Alice would be _really _annoyed if I creased my Vera Wang mini dress. So I quickly tried to dart around in the darkness, half hoping that I would be able to reach the door handle, and half hoping Edward would catch me.

He did. Edward's hands swiftly shot out and hooked over my shoulders, pulling me back down so that our foreheads were touching and he was pinning me with his weight against the back wall of shelves.

"Trying to escape me, prey?" he snarled, snapping his teeth at my neck in (partially) faked menace. "Gonna have to fuck some obedience into you."

What the hell.

Nobody would miss us for a few minutes.

Carpe Diem and all that jazz.

I nudged his nose with mine so I could breath against his mouth, "give it your best shot."

Edward made a sexy growling sound before his lips covered mine, his tongue curling inside my mouth as I gasped. He began licking and sucking at my tongue, hands clawing at the hem of my dress. He quickly relieved me of my panties, tugging them down my legs so I could clumsily step out of them.

Just as lack of oxygen was making me dizzy, Edward flipped me around and bent me at the waist, so I had to lean forward and rest my forearms on a low shelf in front of me to keep my balance.

He kicked lightly and playfully at the inside of my legs, making me spread them wider for him, an action that was rewarded by two of his fingers plunging into my eager body, pumping in and out quickly. His body pressed up against mine, the hard nub pressing insistently into my ass letting me know he was more then ready for me.

"Mmm…" he croaked, as I felt his mouth, wet and greedy, along my shoulders and neck. "Love the smell and feel of you all wet and impatient for me."

"Maybe I was fantasizing about Vin Diesel again." I warned Mr. Smug, even as I buried my head in my braced arms.

Edward laughed, a sleepy sound that I recognized as his horny laugh. Of course he knew it was him I was turned on by. "Doesn't matter to me, as long as I reap the benefits."

Then I heard him impatiently fiddling with his belt buckle, and the sound of his zip being lowered roughly. He made a hissing sound as he released his cock, aligning my hips with his other hand. We both whimpered as his hard flesh rubbed up against my dripping folds, and then with one swift piston of Edward's hips, he speared himself in me.

Edward used a tight grip on my hips to pull me back onto him, swiveling his own hips to pull out. The furious rhythm he created had me gasping and wriggling back against him, my hands grabbing the shelf in front of me as he rode me.

Edward's growls switched to desperate grunts, and his hands left my hips to grab the railing of a higher shelf, using it for leverage so he could pound harder, each thrust raising me to the tips of my toes.

"Touch. Yourself." He snarled at me in a desperate voice. "You're going to come all over my cock."

I quickly brought a hand down to where he was spearing into me, forming a "V" with two fingers and letting him feel them as I slid them over my dripping entrance. It only took a few frantic rubs of my bud before I clenched down on Edward, my orgasm making me moan his name loudly.

Edward stilled as I was riding out my orgasm, obviously having held his back for a while, and, holding himself so he was buried deep inside me, I felt his liquid release as he chanted my name.

After a mindless pause, Edward gently helped me into a standing position, leaning us both against the shelves so we could catch our breath. His arm was around my waist and his body was turned towards mine, and I knew if I didn't put my foot down now we'd end up cuddling in a post-coital glow.

"Alright," I finally told him, shakily pulling my dress down. "You go first, and then I'll meet you out there."

"Nonsense, love." Edward pouted, tugging insistently on my hand. "Give me a couple of minutes, bring those gorgeous tits over here, and I'll be able to go again…and again."

I rolled my eyes, even though he couldn't see it. "As tempting as that offer is," and it was _really _tempting, "you'll just have to wait until we can get rid of everyone. Now scoot."

Edward heaved a disappointed sigh, and headed to the door, "I'll just have to collect – with interest - later. Come find me when you don't look thoroughly shagged, you sexy little thing."

And the Sauvé Mother Fucker disappeared through the door.

By the time I had recovered in the bathroom enough to be seen in the public eye (though I was still wearing a shit-eating grin that plainly said I had just been done doggy-style by a guy who was hung like a horse) everyone seemed a little more sloshed then they had been before, and the party was clearly winding down. I dropped my platters off, roughly forty minutes late, to the catering staff, who gave me knowing smiles at my delayed arrival.

As I searched for Edward, I had that weird sensation I always got when I saw different parts of my life intermingling, in this case my work friends rowdily dancing and drinking with the people Alice, Rose and I had made friends with at College. My mind was shying away from the knowledge that I wouldn't see any of these people for at least a year, even as I memorized their faces and kind words all night.

I couldn't spot any of the Cullen's or either of my girls, though I did overhear a few scandalized conversations about Emmett and Edward's "odd" behavior. After navigating through the crowds of scattered people in Edward's dark living room (earning a thumbs up from Jessica, who had no doubt noticed my shag hair), I finally heard Rose's boisterous laugh over the music, coming from a hallway off the kitchen.

Her, Alice, Emmett, and Jasper were all laughing at Edward, whose back was to me and who was also sporting shag hair.

"I can't believe how into your punishment you are now," Alice giggled at him, thumping him in the arm with her tiny little fist. Evidently Alice and Rose had been let in on the joke, which meant the guys had probably completed all their dares by now.

"I think the _risqué _factor of the dares is growing on me, in accordance with the prophecy." Edward said, and I knew he was smirking from the way his voice sounded. At least the cocky shit was using his "in accordance" sentence again. "So what's my dare, Al?"

"You know that um…plump lady from your PR department?"

"Doreen, _Mon_?" Emmett butted in, his Jamaican accent not getting any better with regular use. None of them had spotted me yet, so I took the chance to fondly observe them all interacting while I could. "Why is she here anyways? She's the meanest cow on the planet, _Mon_."

"She came with Michelle after work," Alice explained impatiently, waving Emmett aside, "and I want you to go up to her, Edward, drop down to one knee, put your hands on her stomach, and ask her when the baby is due."

They all roared in laughter, while Edward's head dropped into his hands as he shook it ruefully.

"She's going to kick me in the nuts, in accordance with the prophecy." he groaned, muffled through his hands.

"Ha! I bet that'll be the hardest question you're ever going to ask, _Mon_." Emmett, his shirt tails now sticking out through his open zip, laughed.

"Please," Edward scoffed back, and just like I knew he would be smirking, I know new he would be rolling his eyes. "This is a walk in the park compared to when I asked Bella to marry me, in accordance with the prophecy."

_He remembers that?!_

The suddenly rigid set of Edward's shoulders made it clear that he hadn't meant to say that. He seemed to suck in a deep breath in the ensuing breathless pause his words had created.

Rose was the first one to break it, asking him in a dangerous voice, "and how long ago was this?"

I was the second to break their silence.

As soon as my befuddled brain registered what Edward had just blurted, I screeched – loudly – announcing my presence.

"EDWARD CULLEN, YOU _REMEMBER_ THAT?"

**

* * *

I am aware that many of you are going to be anxious about the missing 13 days between this chapter and the last. Here's my reasoning; there is only so much of Edward whining and Bella fretting that I could really write before you lot told me to cheer the fuck up, Emo Kid!**

**And yes, I know they seem a little cheery in this chapter compared to previous ones, but their moods are explained in the next one.**

**Review and give me some inspiration, pretty please with a cherry on top.**

**Better yet: Review and give me some inspiration, pretty please with a cherry clamped between Edward's teeth on top.**


	37. Pretty Please

**A/N: Sorry to do this to you, a real chapter is not to far away.**

**Could you all pretty please go to fictionpress (.com) and in the search up the top, type His Personal Assistant or CCloud. **

**In the add to favorite button, you can write a report saying this is a copied story. Please write one. **

**Thank you.**

**xoxo**

**YAY! UPDATE:**

**The cow had to take her story down, so thank you so much!!**

**I can't even describe to you how wonderful your support felt. That literally only took two hours. **

**I love you all. **


	38. Pacing

**I know I tell ya'll that I love you often, but seriously, I LOVE YOU.**

**Your responses to the-cow-that-will-no-longer-be-named copying my story had that story removed in 2 HOURS.**

**That is amazing.**

**This may be silly, as writing this story started as a creative outlet, but it meant SO MUCH to me that you guys did that.**

**So, from the bottom of my heart, thank you for being amazing, loyal readers.**

**Also, as my boyfriend and I were reading the reviews you left for the cow-that-will-no-longer-be-named, he turned to me and said, "geez, next time I forget to pick up my dirty socks, sick your fans on me and I might actually listen to you."**

**So that will be our next project. ;)**

_

* * *

As soon as my befuddled brain registered what Edward had just blurted, I screeched – loudly – announcing my presence._

_"EDWARD CULLEN, YOU REMEMBER THAT?"_

**EPOV.**

Isabella Swan was going to kill me.

I had been pushing my luck that last few weeks as it was, teasing her incessantly about going to my brothers for help in "seducing" me (something that still made me dizzily satisfied every time I thought about it).

But now I'm pretty certain she was _actually_ going to kill me.

Rosalie, Alice, Jasper and Emmett and I had been standing around at Bella's "Bon Voyage" party, and I had been feeling all daring and free after banging my Bella in a closet. So I had asked them for some additional dares, loving the reaction I got out of people when I laughed hysterically at their "male" or "female" answers. That was all fine until, like an idiot, I opened my big mouth and mentioned that I had asked Bella to marry me.

Jasper and Emmett did not look remotely surprised at this little bit of news. Rosalie and Alice were a different matter. Rosalie looked like she was about to go for my jugular with my teeth, and Alice looked like I had whacked her across the head with an anvil.

Worse then that, Bella chose that moment to screech loudly, asking me if I remembered _that._ Jesus, I don't know how drunk she thought I was, but I could never forget asking for her to be mine for life.

All I had been able to stutter out at the time was an "Um…yeah?"

My eloquent answer infuriated Bella further, and she spat "we'll talk after the party," at me and marched the hell off.

Her anger was completely understandable. We had been living in a cocoon of intimacy that last two weeks, blocking out every bad thing that was looming in the near feature. Like a coward, I had been hesitant to break that happy spell, thus foolishly not mentioning my proposal to her.

It was now three o' clock in the morning, after the party, and I was waiting for Bella to get out of the bathroom. As soon as the last guest had left (Alice, who had been giving Bella blatantly pointed looks as she went) I had asked Bella if she wanted to talk, but she had snapped, "I'm taking a shower first."

I had simply stripped off my shirt and had chucked my jeans at the end of the bed, which left me here, sitting in my boxers and staring at the bathroom door.

I was feeling particularly nervous, my hand clasping around the peace offering I had with me, wondering whether she was in there sharpening a knife and laying down plastic sheeting so she could dispose of my body.

Despite my possible (likely) forthcoming murder, I had decided what I had to do next, what she deserved, and it felt like my stomach was full of fluttering little creatures as I anticipated the angry woman who was about to face me.

Bella eventually came out of the bathroom in one of my old Forks High t-shirts, which came down to her knees. Her hair was up in a hastily done bun on the top of her head, and even though I know she would scoff at me for thinking it, she had never looked more beautiful; wearing my clothes, face scrub cleaned of make-up and looking like she was about to shoot me in the nuts.

Her otherworldly beauty simply solidified my next move.

"Bella, love." I started quickly, eyes fixed on her cute, tiny pink toes so I wouldn't lose my nerve. "Could you please take a seat?"

"Uh, I feel more like pacing right now, thanks." She growled at me, and I watched as those toes picked up in a march around my bedroom.

"Ok-aay." I said slowly, deciding to do this even though she would likely gut me with a hunting knife when I finished speaking. "I have something to say to you, and I hope that you'll listen before you make a final decision."

Translation: I hope that she listened _before _ice-picking me in groin area.

"Speak." Bella declared imperiously as she continued to pace, like she was giving a command to a dog. Which of course made me think about how great a life it would be as Bella's pet.

As long as I got to roll over and let her rub my belly.

She could hand feed me.

Let me curl up at her feet.

Scratch behind my ears as we sit in front of the fire.

I could jump up and try and lick her face.

_Bliss_.

"Right," I shook off those diverting thoughts as I began confessing to her feet. "I know I behaved like a coward in not admitting that I remembered proposing to you. I find myself doing a lot of stupid things around you due to a combination of urgency and feelings of inadequacy. My proposal that night was one of those shining moments. I shouldn't have asked you to be my wife in that manner, and I certainly shouldn't have taken the easy way out and avoided talking about it afterwards. Please forgive me."

Bella's feet stopped, facing me from across the bed. I gulped as I awaited her response, resisting the urge to cover my general crotch area in a protective stance.

"Dammit, Edward," she said, her voice shaking, "Just when I try to be mad at you, you have to say things like that to me. I forgive you – and I hope you can forgive me for not bringing it up, either. That was my own feelings of inadequacy shining through."

I almost scoffed at that. She had no need to feel inadequate. But if that were how I had made her feel, then hopefully my next actions would make it up to her.

I took the deepest breath I had ever taken in my life and dropped down to my knees. I tried to prop myself up to one knee, but I was trembling too much for the movement to work. Perhaps this was better, kneeling at her feet in an act of abject supplication.

A physical symbol of my eternal devotion.

When I gathered the courage to look up at Bella's face, she was looking at me with a mixture of confusion and concern. I took another fortifying breath and asked the hardest question I'd ever had to ask for the second time I'd had to ask it.

"Isabella Marie Swan," I began in a trembling voice, eyes locked with hers, "I've loved you from afar since the first day I saw you. Not in the callous way a boy pines after a film star he's never met, but in the sense of a grown man losing his heart to a woman he's just glimpsed. Knowing he will never be happy with anyone else. I will never want anyone but you. I know this isn't very romantic, this isn't how I had it planned in my head, but please, please, _please_ say that you'll agree to become my wife."

_Shit_. She was crying. Tear were not the reaction I was going for. Hoping it would sway things in my favor, I hastily held out my right hand, my grandmother's engagement ring balanced on my palm.

"This ring has been in Esme's family for generations." I explained quickly. "Before Esme's mother – Elizabeth Masen – died, she gave this to me and told me to put it on the finger of the girl I wanted to marry, to have babies with, to grow old with. That's you, Angel. I love you. Please marry me."

_Please._

I resisted the urge to bring my hands together and physically beg her, or to get on all fours and kiss her feet. I would do either if I thought the signs of ardor would influence her to agree. Instead I just stayed on my knees, my grandmother's ring held out to her in my shaking hand.

Bella's hands were covering her mouth and tears were leaking down her chin, making wet little dots on my faded blue t-shirt. At her expression, I felt my heart sink into my shoes.

She was going to turn me down.

She was going to London, even after I'd laid my heart bare at her feet.

_Finally_, after I'd mentally killed myself about nine times, Bella lowered her hands from her mouth and sobbed, "oh, Edward."

I barely resisted the urge to jump up, shake her by the shoulders and asked her "For the love of all things Holy woman, "oh, Edward" _what_?" but was grateful I waited.

Grateful, because Bella dropped to her knees so were facing each other, ducked her head, and sweetly kissed the ring in my palm.

"I love you so much," she said, throwing her arms around my neck, "of course I'll marry you."

I released what may have been a sob of relief as I gathered her up and jumped onto the bed with her in my arms. Lying down next to her, I picked up her fragile little hand and slid the ring into place. Where it would stay forever.

Victory, possessiveness, love, joy, relief – a thousand searing emotions – shot through me.

She was going to be Mrs. Edward Cullen.

She was staying with me.

**

* * *

BPOV.**

I was going to be Mrs. Edward Cullen.

Isabella Marie Cullen.

Bella Cullen.

Lying next to my future husband as we gleefully examined his ring on my hand, it was an odd time to be thinking about my mother. Renee would probably skin me alive when she found out I was getting married. But it wouldn't take much to convince her how perfect Edward was for me. How he encourages me, looks after me, loves me.

How I love him.

Edward was fiddling with my hair, something I knew he did when he was agitated or excited. I was going to go with excited this time; considering I'd just agreed to become his wife. His other hand was alternating between twisting my shining new (or technically, antique) engagement ring around my finger and touching my face.

"This is going to be great," he said exuberantly, coiling my hair around his finger, releasing it, and then repeating. "We'll have to get your stuff from the storage place as soon as possible. I want this to be your home, too. I mean – all you've got here is some of your books and a suitcase of clothes. I can take the day off work if you want to go tomorrow." He gave a rueful (but still delighted) laugh and ran the tip of one finger over my nose tenderly. "And I suppose you're going to wanting lots and lots of closet space now."

I couldn't believe how quickly my gleeful, happy feeling could disappear.

And I got that sinking feeling instead.

The one where you've just realized that something fucking horrendous has happened.

Like seeing a car swerve into your lane.

Like seeing the police outside your door at three in the morning.

That gut wrenching, oh _shit_, now what do I do feeling.

"Edward," I said cautiously, not sure if my sinking feeling was accurate. "I'm still going to London, of course."

The fingers he had coiled in my hair stopped abruptly, near my scalp, and the hand that was holding mine tightened painfully.

"Bella?" he asked me stiffly. "What are you saying?"

I raised myself up to my elbows, watching Edward guardedly. "I'm going to school in London."

Edward sat up, mirroring my posture. His face was the same calm mask I'd seen both he and Carlisle wear when trying to hide what they were thinking.

"You just agreed to become my wife," he said slowly, after a minutes pause.

I felt a lick of anger, but ignored it. It was my own fault for presuming Edward thought I was still going. I should have realized he would think me accepting his proposal meant I was going to stay.

"And I will _gladly _run down that isle like a giddy girl in love. I'll marry you tomorrow if you want. But I'm going."

"Because you're _so _happy about leaving?" Edward said abruptly, in what could only be called a scathing tone. He dropped my hand, sitting up and reaching over to pick up his disregarded jeans.

"Meaning?"

"Meaning, you seem pretty fucking miserable about the whole thing. Just like me." He yanked his pants on and started pacing in front of the bed, squeezing the bridge of his nose.

"You didn't seem so miserable when you were doing dares and screwing me in a closet earlier." That wasn't what I was supposed to say, but his tone was starting to bring out my argumentative instinct.

Edward suddenly quit pacing and leaned over me on the bed, his hands clapping down on either side of my face, making me flinch. The blank mask was gone and his face was like a man on fire.

"That's bullshit, Bella!" He hissed. "That's what the last few weeks have been. Bullshit! Me playing happy couples because I don't want to fucking pressure you. Because it's ridiculous that I'm so attached to you after such a short time."

"Pressure me?" I asked in a small voice. That was what I was. Small, weak, pathetic, afraid of going and disappointing him, afraid of staying and letting my parents, myself, my future down. And Edward was like a God, looking down at me with wrath, vengeance, and pain in his deep eyes.

"Yeah, pressuring you." He said bitterly, pushing off the bed and resuming his pacing. He grabbed his shirt as he passed it, yanking it on roughly. "Pressuring you by telling you the fucking obvious; I unequivocally and utterly_ don't _want you to go. I want you to stay here with me. There. I said it. I want you to fucking stay, marry me, and live happily every after. Is that so much to ask?"

"I'm already enrolled as an international student," I explained to him, my voice quavering, as was my conviction. I sat up on the edge of his bed, feeling exposed in nothing but his t-shirt. "That means I don't have a place for tertiary studies in America for this semester, which means I can't go back to school for _six months_. And I don't have a job with you anymore, because there has already been another application for a different Business student to work at CIC. You signed the approval papers last week. What do you want me to do?"

Edward's anger seemed to evaporate as he crouched down in front of me, his eyes raking once over my body before he took my hands in his. "None of that matters. We can get you your job back if you really want it. Then it's like this stupid scholarship never happened."

"And someone else, some other hard working student, someone who earned their place, loses out on the opportunity to work at CIC?" I asked him carefully, trying to control my tone. I couldn't decide if I was furious at that or if I wanted to cry.

Edward simply waved my words aside, still grinning at what I sure he presumed was my capitulation. "Forget the job then. You can be a woman of leisure for a couple of months!" He said, sounding both eager and desperate. "You can sleep in late, you can plan our wedding, you can do whatever you want. As long as I can do it with you."

"I don't have enough money to be a woman of leisure," I told him, not doubting for a second that my eyes had narrowed into slits and I looked like a dragon lady. Seriously though, a woman of leisure? I worked hard to get a fucking education, not to waste six months. "And London means the rest of my degree is paid for."

Edward was either oblivious to my anger or he was purposely ignoring it. "Money isn't a problem, Angel." He _laughed_, all eager and earnest still. "I can pay your school fees off for you, hell, _I'll _pay you to stay!"

I felt like he had slapped me in the face with a Cod.

I'm pretty certain a Cod was a giant ass fish, and I'm pretty certain this was what it felt like to be whacked in the face with one of those huge motherfuckers.

"Like a whore." I spat, each syllable trembling with rage.

Edward dropped my hands like I had shocked him, shooting to his feet. His fists clenched at his sides and his nostrils flared. "Don't you _ever _fucking call yourself that again. You know that's not what I meant. I meant I could support you, you could live here and you wouldn't have to pay rent or worry ab-"

I jumped to my feet to, not letting him tower over me. "Even better!" I screeched. "A paid woman! A mistress! I don't have to go to school or work for six months, but I'm sure I'll be earning my keep, right?"

"You're wearing my ring," Edward spat at me, "that makes you my fiancé…my wife eventually. What's mine is yours. And having what's mine means that you don't have to go half way across the world to study."

Fucking great. Now I was crying again. "I'm not taking the scholarship because it's free," I sobbed loudly, "I'm taking it because it's an honor, it's something that ensures I can better myself, I can learn, I can grow up. And what you're saying is that being your wife, your fiancé, means you expect me to give up everything and play housewife?"

"You wouldn't be giving up anything." Edward spat, marching into his closet and emerging with a pair of sneakers and socks. "You could live here, you could relax before you needed to find a job or go back to school. I'd fucking do it for you, Bella, I'd give up _anything _for you."

"I think the difference is that I'd never be selfish enough to ask." I said quietly, instantly regretting the words, even as I spoke them.

The words that made Edward flinch as if they were pointed knives.

There was a pause as Edward stood near the door and I stood at the foot of his bed. The space between us felt like an insurmountable abyss, with him on one side and me firmly on the other. Edward's face reinforced this impenetrable gap, devoid as it was of any emotion.

No anger, no pain, no remorse.

Just nothingness.

"Right." He finally said; his voice detached as he looked over my left shoulder. "Well then I guess I'm just a selfish bastard, aren't I?"

And he walked out of the room, slamming the door behind him.

I knew he would be walking out of the apartment, too.

The sound of the door snapping against the frame was like a bullet slamming into me, the force of the blow bringing me to my knees.

I eventually collapsed back against the bed, tucking my knees to my chest and wrapping my arms around them. My engagement ring was digging into my thigh. I pushed harder, welcoming the pain, the reminder that he wanted me.

I don't know how long I sat there, staring at the door, thinking nothing; a numb mess, but the sound of my mobile ringing broke me of my stupor.

"Edward!" I shouted out immediately to the empty apartment. From all that I know about his character, I wouldn't have expected him to be calling after how he left, but whom else would it possibly be at close to five in the morning?

Guess I should have trusted my instincts. One look at my caller Id informed me that it was Emmett's home phone ringing me.

"Hullo?" I picked up, my voice sounding dull and dead.

"Baby, what happened?" Rose's concerned voice made let out a shaky sob, and it was only then that I realized I must have been crying since Edward walked out.

"H-h-how do you k-know something happened?"

"Because Edward just showed up at our front door." Rose whispered, but there was the sound of a door swinging shut and then she resumed normal volume. "I think he walked all the way here. He looks like hell. Em's just sat him down and he's trying to talk to him."

"What's he saying?" I asked her, trying to keep my voice from cracking. I hope she knew I meant Edward, not Emmett, because I wouldn't have been able to say Edward's name out loud.

There was a hesitant second before Rose spoke again. "I don't know. He wouldn't answer Emmett's questions; he's just sitting there with his head in his hands muttering to himself about how he's a bastard. How he ruined everything…how "Bella's going"…I think…well, I think he's crying. Emmett looks terrified. I don't think he's seen Edward cry since he was a boy."

I had no recollection of what I said in response, or of hanging up, or of climbing into bed and curling up in a ball.

But before the sun rose, I felt Rosalie slide into bed with me, pulling me into her arms. Alice joined her not long afterwards. Neither of them spoke.

They simply cradled me protectively as I clutched my engagement ring against my heart.

**

* * *

So you're reading this and you're all aww…happy proposal. **

**And then Ka-Blahmy! I hit you up with a fight. Cause I'm just a motherfucker like that.**

**Don't hate me. Happy endings are my thing!**

**Reviewers get sent Edward as a pet.**

**You can rub his belly while he licks your face…or licks whatever body part you see fit!**


	39. Resigned

**The awesome RoseArcadia has started a thread for HPA, which can be found here:**

**http://www(dot)twilighted(dot)?f=44&t=5955&sid=35d3dacb753fdcc9f9856ca7a26abf98**

**When they finally approve me, I WILL BE ON TWILIGHTED (Under northernlights17) AND YOU CAN POSE QUESTIONS FOR ME THERE!**

******Good news: your pet Edward's are in the mail.**

**Honest to God.**

**I boxed those babies up with pretty, pretty bows on their pretty, pretty heads.**

**Oh, also, please let me know if I ever make you laugh/cry out loud at work or in inappropriate places. That shit makes my day :)**

**Though I have a feeling you will all HATE ME after this chapter ;)**

* * *

**BPOV.**

"I can't believe we're having this argument again," Edward rolled his eyes at me, shuffling his newspaper ostentatiously as I slumped into the stool next to him, leaning against his hip and the kitchen counter.

"Well if you would simply listen to me, we wouldn't need to go through this _every_ morning." I responded in a voice throaty with sleep, chugging down his giant glass of O.J and shooting him a confrontational look.

It was hard – it would have been more natural to ogle him. Especially looking as he was now, his shirt perfectly starch white, his grey suit not yet creased due to the fact it was seven in the morning.

Right – seven in the fucking morning. I opened my mouth to give him a piece of my mind, but sensing this, Edward abruptly kept up with our current argument.

"I just don't see why we would _possibly_ need to order two of the same newspaper." He stated loftily, dropping said newspaper to curl his arm around my waist, hand conveniently ending up on my boob.

"Because you take forever to read it, and then I have to wait for you. Just order two freaking papers." I growled at him, trying to ignore the way his hand was curling and releasing, rubbing and nipping at my breast.

"That's ineffective spending, my love." Edward declared, in his best snooty boss voice. Like the bastard _wasn't_ a billionaire. "If you simply sleep-in like you're _supposed_ to, the newspaper would be here waiting for you when you get up."

I gave him an indignant look, which I think was spoiled by the fact that I was leaning into his hand. At my lean, his hand slid up and then ducked under the rim of my t-shirt, touching my bare breasts, my areola and nipples responding immediately to his bare touch.

"_Someone_," I hissed, "decided to spend the ten minutes before his alarm went off with his hands on my stomach and his mouth on my boobs. I'm now horny and wide bloody awake."

"Well they're just so big now." Edward leered, trying to grab as much of me as he could in his and twisting in his seat so he could rub his nose on my neck. "Now let me get you back in bed before I have to get to work."

"You mean back "to" bed, right?" I asked glibly, letting him shift me into his lap gently.

"Right sure, one of those." He agreed laughingly, kissing the tip of my nose as he lifted me into his arms and got to his feet. I knew he would prefer for me to think of him as Cro-Magnon man, but I couldn't help but laugh at the way he staggered under our combined weight.

"I'm heavier then your average backpack." I teased, as he carried me bridal-style towards the bedroom. And as I ignored the fact that he spent the journey kneading my ass.

"Ha!" He laughed, shifting so he could pull back the covers of our bed. "At the moment, I have to agree, Angel."

Edward arranged me so I was lying back on my side of the bed and pulled the covers up to my hips. He then lifted my top and kissed my belly button and both my nipples.

"Gah. I don't know how much longer I can take this." I groaned in pure frustration at the need his lips ignited it me.

"Patience, dear. Doctor says you can't have sex for a few more months." _Actually_ – the doctor had said I couldn't have penetrative sex for a few more months, but I got his point.

"How are you handling this so well?" I asked him as he happily flicked my nipple around, like a child with his favourite toy.

Edward looked thoughtful, seriously considering my question. "Well," he said solemnly, "I jerk off a lot."

"That's just great," I huffed, letting him tongue my nipple, "lucky you for getting yourself off."

Edward grinned cheekily and moved up to kiss my lips softly, pulling away with a groan when I tried to slip him some tongue. _Hee_. Guess the sexual frustration was getting to both of us.

"Go to sleep, wife," he ordered me; slipping down to kiss my rounded stomach. "Go to sleep, Spawn."

"Spawn?" I asked, offended, "You're calling our unborn child _Spawn_?"

Now Edward huffed, miffed at me. "Well if you let the doctor tell us the bloody sex, I could call our son by his proper name – EJ."

"EJ?"

"Edward Junior." He rolled his eyes, like that should have been obvious. His irritation was ruined by the way he was delicately tracing my lips with his pinky finger.

"And what if it's a girl?" I asked him, taking a nip out of his finger and earning a reproachful look from him.

"Then it can go back in again." Edward said, flicking my nose laughingly. "I don't think I could handle two Swan girls wrapping me around their little fingers."

I tried to reply. To tell him that I was wrapped around his little finger too. But Edward was gone, and my mother Renee was standing at the foot of my childhood bed, back in my bedroom in Phoenix.

"Bella," she told me lovingly, "I'm so proud of you."

* * *

I woke up with a gasp, luckily not jostling Alice or Rose. I was in Edward's bed; with my best friends sound asleep on either side of me. Through the window, the sun was barely raised over the New York skyline. What a great way to start my morning. Now I was dreaming about being married to Edward and having his baby. A dream that would probably never fucking come true.

It was Friday, four days before my flight to London was due to leave. Well – technically three days. My flight left at midnight on Tuesday. How fucking dramatic. Though slightly less dramatic considering I'd have to be there three hours early to get poked and prodded by customs.

Carefully, one inch at a time, I slipped out of bed and clumsily stumbled into the hallway, through the debris of last nights Bon Voyage party.

What the hell had happened? Edward had collapsed onto shaking knees in front of me and bared his soul, telling me he loved me, that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with me. How could that have gone so horribly wrong, so quickly?

Was I in the wrong because his words offended me?

Because I didn't spend the last fifteen years of my life working my ass off at school simply to become "a woman of leisure"?

I knew Edward meant well but it didn't make what he had said any less thoughtless. He was twenty-four, had graduated early, from both high school and University, and at the top of his class to boot. If anyone should understand my burning desire to succeed, it should be him.

But he thought I was suddenly going to become a Stepford Wife, giving up on my schooling and career so I could lie around for six months, sleeping in and sleeping with him.

Instead of taking the "stupid scholarship".

_No_.

That would offend _anyone_.

That didn't mean I was right and he was wrong, either. I knew now Edward was simply offering to look after me, despite going about it the wrong way. Even then, I shouldn't have reacted with anger when faced with his anger, but at the time I hadn't been thinking rationally. All I could think about was that Edward didn't want to support me, that he thought I was stupid, that he thought my achievements were trivial.

The way I had lashed out at him was the same way I had lashed out at my mom when I was a little girl. When I would end a fight, whether over boys or clothes or the state of my bedroom, with tears and an "I hate you". I would always regret saying it afterwards, but that never, _ever_ stopped the words from escaping.

Thinking about Renee, and with my dream still fresh in my mind, I grabbed my Blackberry off the kitchen table and headed towards what had quickly become my den of sanctuary. Once I was curled up on the rug in front of the libraries fireplace, I called a number I rarely used, though that admission shamed me.

"Baby?" Mom answered sleepily on the eighth ring. "It's early. What's wrong?"

"Do you think I'm doing to right thing?" I asked without preamble. "Taking this scholarship? Even if it means leaving Edward for a year?"

I heard shuffling and could picture her getting out of bed so as not to wake my dad, Charlie.

"Okay." She said finally. "Tell me what's wrong."

I explained to her, briefly, about the fight we had had last night, leaving out the details of the engagement. I didn't need to be a mind reader to know hearing about the beautiful ring on my finger would drive Renee ape-shit.

It was a full minute before she responded, and even then I could tell she was being very careful about what she said.

"Bella, I should start off by telling you, that my honest opinion is that this scholarship is the best thing that's ever happened to you. I know how hard you worked at school, and at college, to get to where you are now. Now let me ask you this; if it was a few months ago, before you began your relationship with Edward, what would you have felt when you won this opportunity?"

"Pride," I answered truthfully, "happiness, satisfaction, excitement. And I am feeling all of those things, mostly. But I didn't expect to fall in love, Ma."

Mom sighed, obviously having expected exactly that answer. "Love shouldn't mean giving up your dreams, baby. You know that old saying? If you love someone let them go, and if the come back to you that's how you know it's real?"

"I've always hated that saying."

She laughed lightly, as a kettle started screaming in the background, "that's because you're young and in love for the first time, and you're caught up in this huge whirlwind of excitement and you think if you leave then it'll all be over. But it's not like that, baby. True love will wait for you."

This call wasn't helping. I pressed my fists into my eyes and wish she would just act like a mother instead of a friend, that she would just give me a fucking definitive answer. "So you think I should go, then?"

"If I'm being completely straight with you then – _yes_. I think turning down this scholarship would be a big mistake, sweetie. Talk to Edward again and tell him how you feel after your fight. If things are meant to be they'll work out in the end."

Right.

Okay then.

Not exactly what I wanted to hear, but at least I had a goal. Talk to Edward. We were finishing this – one way or another.

* * *

**EPOV.**

I heard my office door open and the lock clicking as it closed. I knew Jessica wouldn't be into work for at least another hour, and when I raised my head I found the woman who was responsible for the aching pit of despair I was currently in.

Bella was standing in front of me, wearing my t-shirt, which she had put on after her shower last night, and a tiny denim skirt. Her hair was messy, her eyes were red and she looked like I felt.

Well, except the fact that she still looked incredibly conflicted, while I had no doubt in my mind that I looked resigned and defeated.

I had made my decision this morning, lying on Emmett's couch and thinking over every dim-witted thing I had said to her during our fight. Thinking about the look of pain on her face as she said, "_I think the difference is that _I'd_ never be selfish enough to ask._"

I had spoken the truth when I told her I really was nothing more then a selfish bastard. When Bella had accepted my proposal, I stupidly presumed that meant she was turning down her scholarship. Despite the fact that I had watched all the preparations she had made for her departure these last few weeks.

Then when she had corrected me, my fear, my obsessive attachment to her, had made me lash out, made me admit the truth – that I was greedy prick, who was incapable of being happy for her and wanted her at his side; always. That I didn't want her to leave, because it felt like she was be leaving me.

A greedy prick. That's what I was, what I had been during our entire relationship. I was timid, afraid of her rejection. I didn't even admit I loved her until she had pointed it out to me. I never thought about what I could offer her – only what I could take from her.

When Bella pointed out the technical problems of her staying, I offered to fucking _pay for her_. I actually used the term "woman of leisure". What the hell was wrong with me? How stupid did I have to be to say that to someone as independent and fierce as Bella Swan?

_Selfish bastard_. I had ruined this for her. Ruined what should have been the most exciting time of her life with my fears and callous words.

Well, no more.

No more.

I would fix this for her, even if my heart was broken in the process.

Bella cleared her throat, focusing my attention on her as she ran a nervous hand through her hair.

"Emmett said you'd come into work early," she said in a nervous rush, "can we please talk?"

I gestured to one of the chairs in front of my desk in response. Bella immediately sunk into it, her knee bobbing up and down with nerves.

I sluggishly leant back in my own seat, my eyes greedily moving over her face and body, burning it into my memory because, even though she didn't know it, this was goodbye. My heart clenched at that, and my head swam, but I ordered myself to hold it together until this was over.

But because I was still a timid bastard, Bella was the one who had to break the silence.

"You shouldn't have belittled me like that." She stated, taking a deep breath and speaking in a monotone. I had a feeling she had rehearsed this in her truck on the way over. "I'm not asking you to be over the moon about it, cause like you said, I'm as conflicted about me leaving as you are. But you had no right to make it sound like I could be paid off. That was insulting, Edward."

"You shouldn't have called yourself a whore. You should have realized how much it was fucking killing me to see you leaving." I blurted, needing her anger so this could be a smidgen easier.

"You shouldn't have treated me like one." Bella snapped, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath afterwards. It was obvious she was trying to keep her anger at bay. "That isn't the point. Lets not fight for no reason."

"You're right." I shrugged, trying to seem indifferent and no doubt failing miserably. Only the reminder that I was doing this for her kept the cold, cruel words coming out of my mouth. "People shouldn't fight for no reason. We _have _reason to fight. I offered you a solution to our...problems...and you turned it down. That's really all there is to this."

Bella was on her feet, tiny little fists pressing against her hips. She looked so amazing when she was angry – her brown eyes flashing, her chest heaving under _my _t-shirt, that I felt my breath catch. How was I going to live without her?

"Our problems?" she repeated through clenched teeth. "This scholarship is the best thing that's ever happened to me. Do you know how hard I worked at school, and at college to get to where I am now?"

"Christ," I snapped at her, "you sound like you're quoting from a text book. _This scholarship is the best thing that's ever happened to me. This is such a wonderful opportunity._ Good for you."

Bella flinched at my cruel words, and I hated myself just a little bit more, even though they were necessary. Last night I had tried to tie her to me; first through guilt and then through money. Now I was using anger and bitterness to set her free.

"Stop it. Just stop it." She growled at me, marching back and forth in front of my desk. "Stop trying to fucking push me away and just speak honestly with me."

Of course Bella saw through me. How could she not, when I had no doubt that my love for her was clear as day on my face?

I stood up and moved to her side of the desk, leaning back and crossing my arms over my chest. I knew the gesture came off as aggressive, but in reality I felt like I was trying to push against the searing pain in my chest. I felt my expression harden as I tried desperately to hide my true emotions.

"Fine," I told her, as she stopped in front of me. "This is what I think. I think this obviously isn't going to work. I think you should just go on this fucking trip, and if we're both still single when you get back, then if you want, we can pick up things where we left off."

I wasn't supposed to add that last part, but I couldn't help but leave myself the barest, smallest, most pathetic slice of hope.

I saw the pain and shock lance through Bella's features as I told her the last thing she had expected to hear. But this was necessary; I had once promised myself that I would not let my own grief trigger her confusion or unfounded remorse over leaving. I had once told myself that my own petty desires for her had no business standing in the way of her future.

I had broken that promise. Instead of encouraging her, I had _heaped _my grief on her, making her guilty over something that should bring her nothing but pride. Well now I knew what it meant to put my love for her first; it meant setting her free, allowing her to go and leave her unnecessary culpability behind.

"You-you…" Bella was choking on her words, and I was relieved to see her hurt transform into anger. Her anger would leave her sooner and she could get on with her life. Her life without me. "What was all that shit about not being able to "contemplate dating another woman"? Clearly that was all bull."

And what was worse was that I could see she actually believed that; actually believed that I could ever want anyone but her. Had I not told her a thousand times how much I wanted her, and only her? Her acceptance would hurt me later, when I was lying alone and could feel anything but numb grief.

"Well now I'm telling you the truth. I gave you options last night; a plethora of them. You chose none. So what the fuck is the point in pretending you and I are going anywhere?" I snarled at her, uncrossing my arms and grabbing her elbow so I could drill my words into her. "Besides; I'm a selfish prick, right? You might as well cut your losses now. Just leave, consider yourself a free agent. I'm sure that'll please your buddy Jacob."

Bella jerked her elbow out of my grasp and I saw what she was going to do next. I had plenty of time to stop her, but I welcomed it; I welcomed the feeling of her palm slapping me across the cheek.

"I guess I deserved that," I laughed mercilessly, my hand coming up to rub the sting.

"Yes. You did deserve that." Bella agreed. Her next actions shocked me so much that my entire body froze. She took an aggressive step towards me, until we were standing toe-to-toe and her harsh breathing was warming my neck.

"And this," she told me in a heated whisper, her hand snaking up to grab the back of my neck, "I deserve to have this. One. Last. Time."

Then she pulled my mouth down to hers. I was frozen in surprise until her tongue angrily entered my mouth, and then I was kissing her back, matching her desperation as I tried to memorize her taste.

Bella moaned as my hands grabbed her face, battling with me, and then finally conceding, as I took over our kiss. My lungs were screaming for air but I was terrified she would walk away the minute our lips stopped touching. I felt Bella gasping for air too, and desperate to keep up the intensity of this, I began groping her breasts and kissing her neck, walking us towards the couch as she tugged on my hair.

"One last time," I agreed with her; I _begged _her.

_Please let me have you; love, please just once more_.

She must have approved, because she dragged my face back up to hers, ignoring the sobbing sound of relief I was making as she battled with my tongue.

I pushed her back onto the couch, the skirt she was wearing hiking up around her stomach as I settled between her hips. I kept up the frantic movement of my tongue in her mouth and searched out the mound between her legs with my fingers. I slipped both hands under her panties, using one to pull them down her legs and the other to stroke her uncovered slit, gathering the moisture there. As always, I felt primal satisfaction that I had brought out her arousal, satisfaction that she eagerly kicked her panties off for me, satisfaction at her harsh touch, as she clawed my shirt off.

I pumped two fingers in her pussy, as Bella's nails raked over my biceps and our frenzied kiss continued. I could feel my forehead scrunched up in pain, my eyes clenched shut as I tried to keep them from tearing up. I wouldn't fucking cry right now. When I felt she was ready enough for my cock, I broke our kiss and opened my eyes. I was disconcerted to find Bella staring right back at me, making it clear she had been watching me this entire time.

"Just fucking do it already, Edward." She spat up at me; anger and pain clear in her unwavering eyes. She reached down and fumbled with my belt and zipper, hooking her feet into my pants and boxers to yank them down my hips.

"One last fuck, right?" I spat back, kicking my pants and boxers off the rest of the way, wanting to hurt her and hating myself for it. In my irrational mind, it felt like she had broken my heart, when, in reality, I had done this to myself. To both of us.

Bella's hands grabbed at my shoulders, and for a terrifying second I thought she was going to push me off her. _No please_, I wanted to beg her. I would have begged her. _Please, I need this once more, even if it hurts me. I didn't mean it – I've never fucked you. I've only ever made love to you_.

Almost as if she had heard my silent plea, Bella bucked her hips up, wrapping her legs tightly around my waist and aligning our bodies. My cock sunk easily into her wet hole, and I realized I had pushed my hips forward, without conscious violation, as soon as I had felt her inflamed flesh against the head of my cock. Just as she had known I would.

It was as perfect, as life altering, as it had been every other time I had the honor of being surrounded by her heated wet flesh. Except this time I couldn't look at her. It fucking hurt to see her. I buried my face in my arm as I pounded in a disjointed rhythm, rubbing my face against my skin to hide my tears.

Every thrust felt like goodbye. Every thrust felt like agony. I couldn't handle it. I couldn't fucking handle the physical pleasure when I was filled with so much emotional and mental fucking pain. I couldn't handle the feeling of her hands, frantically clutching at different parts of my body.

Was this what break-up sex felt like? How the hell could people recommend this? It was anguish knowing that I wouldn't be buried in her warm pink pussy again. God, then I thought about someone else having this same pleasure, and I felt as if I might die.

"Edward?" Bella's breathy voice broke my concentration and I looked down at her, still continuing to thrust even though it was the worst kind of torture imaginable. She looked concerned, and it only took me a second to realize I was making a horrible baying sound, like an animal caught in a trap.

I gritted my teeth to stop the sounds of pain, determined, if nothing else, to bring her pleasure this last time. I hid my grief from her once again, hiding my face, and it wasn't long before I felt Bella's fingers rubbing over her clit, working herself towards release. I would have played with her swollen bud myself, but that would have required uncovering my face. To help her get there, I made sure to grind my pelvis into her at the end of every thrust, picking up my pace as my balls tightened and my stomach clenched.

We came together, her sobbing beneath me, as I roared in pain, my arm muffling the sound. I didn't remember doing it, but I rolled us over so Bella, her hips still clenched around me, was on top. Straight away, she buried her face in my chest, and I could feel her tears on mingling with my sweat.

_Don't cry because of me_.

"Did I hurt?" I asked her, my voice sounding terrified and croaky to my own ears. "Did I hurt you?"

"No." Bella didn't elaborate further, and she didn't look at me as she climbed off me, standing next to the couch on shaky legs. The tightening in my chest became unbearable as I wondered whether that was the last time we would ever touch.

"I can stay at Emmett's until you leave." I sighed, seeing her eyes darting to the door and knowing she wanted to leave me now. Unenthusiastically, I sat up, supremely unconcerned with my nakedness. Part of me wanted Bella to see me, stripped naked for her, both literally and figuratively.

"I can't ask you to do that," Bella protested stiffly, looking at my shoulder instead of my face. "Alice says I can stay there."

Anger flared in me, and for one absurd moment I wanted to shout at her for leaving me, even though this was my entire fault. Defeat swiftly followed my anger, dampening it until I felt I might black out with mental and emotional exhaustion.

"That's fine." I agreed, in the same stiff tone she was using, my fists clenching on either side of me. Bella's eyes darted down to them at the movement. "And I hope we can part amicably. I can probably make it to the airport to see you off."

It was a barefaced lie, and I deserved the lie I received in response, "I'd like that." Bella said in the same monotone. To my horror, she then began fumbling with her engagement ring, until it was in her palm and she was holding it out to me. "And I should give you this back."

Irrationally, I had hoped if I hadn't mentioned it to her, that Bella would forget she was wearing it. The idea of that ring being anywhere but on her finger made me want to throw up.

"Keep it." I laughed, a dead sounding laugh, as I fought my illogical panic. Illogical because it made perfect sense for Bella to want to give it back. "A little trinket of our time together."

I could see the protest forming on her lips and jumped to my feet, my fatigued body protesting the quick movement. I took one long look at her as she was now, her hair mussed, her lips swollen from my kisses, her face flushed from the feeling of my body joined with hers.

Her tears streaming down her cheeks.

Then I turned my back on her and headed to the bathroom, pausing at the doorway.

"Goodbye, Bella, Angel. I fervently hope you will be happy in whatever you do." My voice cracked, and I cleared it so I could beg my love for one last request. "Please keep my -. Please keep the ring. Please."

I closed the door behind me.

Hope – painful, dangerous hope – would not allow me to take my ring back.

* * *

**Don't you just want to sit these crazy kids down and shout at both of them?**

**Try not to hate Bella too much, even if it is natural to side with a heartbroken Edward. She's making a decision based on logic, because she's not used to making decisions based on heart.**

**And for those who'll hate Eddie after this. Remember he's our favorite overreacting Emo, and is basing his decisions on major guilt, major love, and major selflessness. ****Just like when he left Bella in New Moon (for those who think that's out of character.)**

**And how much do you hate Renee with all her Zen life lessons? I wanted to slap her with a cod and I was the one that wrote that shit.**

**Review and you get a break up shag with Edward!**

**And remember; happy endings, folks. Happy endings.**


	40. Boarding?

**READ ME. **

**READ ME. **

**READ ME. **

**READ ME. **

**Okay, wow, that last chapter got an insane reaction from you all. **

**I particularly liked the multiple death threats and the confirmation of searing hatred :)**

**I've addressed many of the review personally, but just to reiterate my points:**

**Edward is acting the way he is because he believes it's what's best for Bella. He believes his…emoness…is holding Bella back, and that he is ruining what should be a very happy time for her. Hence, he hurts her so she will let him go. **

**Also, Edward doesn't even consider a compromise (such as working in London or extended visits) because he's stubborn, set in his ways, and tends to see the world in extremes, black or white, no middle ground. As in: Bella's leaving, my life is over, wah, wah, wah. **

**This is Edward IN CHARACTER, people. **

**So um…don't hate the player, hate the game? **

**As for those who are pissed at Bella, well lets just say my girl isn't going to take this shit lying down, like New Moon Bella does. **

* * *

**BPOV****.**

"So…how about this weather, huh?" Emmett asked, breaking the awkward silence.

Alice, Rose, Jasper and I turned to glare at him. We were supposed to be eating a goodbye dinner at Jasper's house. In reality, the five of us were sitting around his lounge room, pushing food around on our plates and staring at each other in an uncomfortable quiet.

It was 8:30pm, Monday night, and I was going to have to leave for the airport in an hour.

I hadn't spoken with Edward since Friday when he told me, "_Please keep my-. Please keep the ring. Please." _and went and hid in his office.

When he closed that door behind him I had stared at it in shock, as if I half expected him to come back and tell me it was all a lie and that he was willing to beg for my forgiveness.

He hadn't. I must have been waiting there for five minutes before I realized he wasn't going to come back out while I was there.

Even as my tears spilled, I felt my body trembling in fury. How _dare_ he? How dare he belittle what had been the happiest few months of my life with his harsh, pointed words?

So I did what any woman scorned would do. I picked up my disregarded g-string off the floor, furiously grabbed a black Sharpie and a piece of paper off his desk, and scrawled across it:

"_Edward – a few trinkets of our time together. I can see now getting me out of _both_ of these is what was important to you_ _– Bella_."

And then I had neatly folded my g-string on top of the piece of paper, and had left my engagement ring as well. I hoped my message was clear – that I knew he regretted his proposal the night before. And leaving the g-string, implying he was only out to get laid, was a masterstroke of female fucking vengeance. A woman scorned and all that.

Emmett broke into my memories with an irritated huff. "Well fuck me for not wanting to sit around like an idiot, ignoring the giant pink elephant in the room."

"Emmett!" Rose snarled at him, throwing down her uneaten slice of pizza. "Can we just have a nice dinner please?"

I had never seen Rose and Emmett fight before, and I regretted fervently that I was the cause of any discord between them. I knew Alice and Jasper were also arguing.

Since I had stumbled back from Edward's office on Friday; I had been staying at Jasper and Alice's. Jasper had been late leaving for work so he'd been there when Alice and Rose stumbled in, carrying my luggage and supporting me. He had taken one look at my tear-streaked face, and had rushed off to the office.

I knew he went to check on Edward, and I didn't have the heart to stop him. What was the point in telling Jasper that Edward was probably already hitting the dating scene again? In fact, I _knew _he was hitting the dating scene again, or at least going out on the town.

I knew because he had called Jasper's home phone on Saturday night. Jasper and Alice went out to pick us up some Chinese food, and because they recognized that I needed as much space as possible post-breakup. When I saw his mobile number on the called ID, I had frozen, hand hovering in the air, not sure whether to pick up or not.

I was still undecided as the call went to voicemail, and as Edward's voice suddenly filled the quiet apartment. "Jazzzzzz…" he had rasped, sounding drunk out of his mind. I could hear the heavy beat of music and voices in the background. He was obviously at a bar or a club or something.

"Jazzzz…I changed my mind. I know I told you earlier that I thought I deserved to be a fucking masochist about this, but it hurts so much. Too fucking much, man. I don't think I'll be able to get through…look, just come get drunk with me…well, actually, I think I'm already drunk, but it hasn't stopped hurting yet sooo – grab Emmett and come get _more _drunk with me! Please, Jazz? _Please_, I'm so fucking tired and I don't want to be alo-"

A tinkering female voice had interrupted him, and I heard the muffled sound of his phone being taken from him. "Come on, handsome, don't you know the rule about not drunk-dialing people?"

And the call had ended. When Jasper and Alice had come home, I didn't mention the message. But I knew Jasper got it when he kissed both Alice and I on the cheek and left twenty minutes after that.

Neither of the girls appreciated Jasper and Emmett supporting Edward in any way, but they understood. Brotherly bonds and all that. What they _didn't _understand was how both brothers were desperately trying to get me to go and talk to Edward.

"Guys!" I interrupted Emmett and Rosalie glaring at each other, wearily dropping my own pizza. "Rose is right, lets just have a nice dinner before I have to go to the airport."

Now everyone was glaring at _me_. I knew why – I'd told them I didn't want anyone coming to see me off. It was hard enough sitting around with them now, let alone having them wave me off through the customs gate.

"Bella, I really think we should talk about what happened with E-" Jasper started, but Alice jumped in before his name could be spoken aloud, no doubt seeing my face whiten as my chest tightened painfully.

"She knows what happened. Your darling brother broke up with her, told her he planned on dating other people, fucked her, and then went and hid. When I see him next I'm going to ring his neck."

I felt a stupid need to defend Edward, even though that was essentially what had happened. "Actually, I instigate the…sex. The rest is true."

I knew I shouldn't have kissed Edward, shouldn't have had "one last fuck" as he so charmingly put it, but I hadn't been lying when I said I need to feel that – _him _– one more time. I wanted to remember that he wanted me, to remember how good it felt to have him thrusting inside me, hard and filling and deep. I wanted to see his damp hair curling at the base of his neck, his intense green eyes focused completely on me underneath him. Edward had robbed me of his eyes, hiding his face from me, but I was still glad I'd had that perfect, painful pleasure one last time.

"I know Edward acted like a cad, but if you just let me tell you what he told _us _then-" Jasper began urgently, but I held my hands up as a physical defense from his words, shaking my head in denial.

"Jasper, what would you have me do?" I asked him, our meal forgotten. "Prostrate myself at his feet? Beg him? I _tried _to apologize, to sort through the mess we'd created, and he just threw our relationship away. He told me that if we were still single in a year then we might work something out. Do you have _any _idea how insulting that was? He might as well have called me "doll-face" and given me a condescending pat on the back. I don't want to hear _anything _he's told you since then. If he has any message he wishes to give me, then he can at least have to courtesy to talk to me face-to-face."

Jasper and Emmett shot each other miserable looks, not happy with the censorship. We all turned back to our pizzas, the veil of silence once again covering us.

"Can I just say one thing, Goober?" Emmett finally asked me, never one to keep his gob shut. "It has nothing to do with the last few shitty-ass days."

I nodded acquiesce as I chomped down on Alice's crusts. "Remember when we went to Victory that first time? And you pretty much enlisted us to help you seduce Edward?"

I snorted in response. Like I could _ever _forget that. That was the reason I had the last few wonderful months with the man I loved. Despite the current state of affairs, I would never regret it.

"Okay, now remember how me and Jazz were shooting each other glances, _just like we are now_?" Emmett emphasized his last words by shooting Jasper one such glance. I nodded again, lip between my teeth like a surly child. I didn't want to hear any of this right now. "Do you know why that was?"

I thought about it, and could see the girls were doing the same. At the time I had presumed they were surprised I was asking for help to seduce their little brother and had written it off. Then I thought about everything Edward had revealed to me since then.

"He wanted me too." I said slowly, as the pieces came together in my mind. "And he wasn't ever going to act on it, because he has some skewered moralistic code where he always has to do the right fucking thing." I realized my voice had become bitter and I stopped talking abruptly.

"Exactly. Now can't you see how his skewered moralistic code could have been part of his decision to breakup? Edward tends to make very – _extreme_ – decisions, Bella." Jasper told me urgently, leaning across the coffee table as I curled back into the couch. "He's sees the world in black or white. I know he hurt you badly, but please, just try and see past that, think about his motivations, hi-"

"Enough." Rose's voice was icy enough to make Jasper flinch and lower his eyes in frustration. I realized there were tears running down my cheeks, staining the t-shirt Alice had picked out for me. "Either stop this or leave. Let us have one last night that isn't marred by drama with our best friend before she leaves."

We all hastened to agree with the Goddess that was Rosalie Hale. I don't think Jasper even considered arguing, despite the fact that Rose had just threatened to kick him out of his own home.

I was grateful for the reprieve. It gave me an hour of laughing with my friends, the two girls that had been there for every milestone in my entire life, the two men who had showed a lowly Assistant affection and friendship even though they had no obligation to do so.

And then we were getting my suitcase and carry on luggage. Checking I had my passport and travel documents. Going to the parking garage to meet the car Jasper had ordered for me.

Emmett was the first to hug me goodbye, huge arms that trapped me against his muscled chest, my feet dangling off the ground.

"Things will work out." He whispered in my ear, his voice sounding childlike in its conviction. "I know a sure thing when I see it. Now you fly safe, little Goober. Make sure to message us as soon as you land." He pressed me even closer, his voice dropping until I could barely hear it. "And I promise to look after our Rosie."

And there came the tears.

Jasper hugged me after I'd staggered away from Emmett, his hug far gentler, like the man himself.

"Be happy, Bella." He told me, voice sounding challenging. Jasper was not one to give up when he thought he was right. "I look forward to the day I can call you little sister."

I pulled away, rolling my eyes at him even through my tears. Jasper placed a smacking kiss on my wet cheek, shrugging unrepentantly at his words.

I didn't know which one of my best friends to hug first, but they decided for me, Rose throwing an arm around my neck, Alice squeezing one around my waist, so that we were pressed together. It was fitting that I didn't have to hug them separately, as we'd always functions as a trio, a unit, a perfect harmony.

"Three phone calls a week, minimum of one message a day, and Facebooking as often as you can." Alice chanted in my ear, repeating the guidelines for communication we had worked out earlier.

"I promise, Al. I want to hear every insignificant detail of your lives," I murmured back, squeezing them so tight I knew it would be painful. "Love you both, sister o' mine."

"Love you too, Bella," the chanted in unison, providing us an unexpected laugh at their synchronization. I squeezed them fiercely once more and then released, allowing them to step back and be cradled by their spouses. I smiled at the guys, knowing they would keep Alice and Rose safe and happy for my return.

I settled into the car, rolling the window down so I could hear them screaming goodbyes and waving fiercely at me as the driver took me towards the airport and my new life.

* * *

"…_call for the 00:00 flight 210 to London_…_this is the boarding call for the 00:00 flight 210 to London_…"

My heart was beating a tattoo against my ribcage, my palms were sweating and my throat was dry. I tried to pick up my carry-on suitcase but it slipped through my shaking fingers.

My flight to London was boarding and my indecisiveness was running rampant.

I'd told Jasper and Emmett earlier that I had given up on Edward. But even now, after that terrible goodbye in his office on Friday morning, I thought a miracle would occur. I thought he would suddenly realize he had made a huge mistake and that I was worth fighting for. That what we had _together_ was worth fighting for.

But he hadn't shown up. I had waited until the last fucking boarding call, I was going to have to sprint through customs, and he still hadn't shown up. After all that stuff he'd said to me that day, about how he thought we should date other people, how his engagement ring was a freakin' trinket, I had still foolishly hoped.

_Expectation is the root of all heartbreak_. I don't know who coined that phrase, but I imagine they were some brokenhearted sucker like me. Even now, I was hoping, praying, that some amazing miracle would occur. Well, that would stop now. This was real life, and in real life, miracles don't just happen to random people like me.

My heart – numb with pain – calmed. I wiped my sweating hands on my overcoat. Almost serenely, I reached down and grabbed my carry-on case. I had waited as long as I dared; it was time to move on, just as Edward would.

Though I felt like there should be some physical marker of the turmoil I was trying to suppress, I tried to walk with my head held high, my shoulders straight. I'm pretty certain I didn't succeed.

"Evening, young lady. Passport and boarding pass." The grey-haired man sitting at customs grinned at me.

If he noticed my hands shaking as I handed over my boarding pass and passport, he didn't comment on it. I stripped off my overcoat, revealing the comfortable skinny jeans and t-shirt I was wearing underneath, and chucked it into one of the x-ray bins, along with my carry-on.

The customs man laughed appreciatively at the "Anarchy In the U.K." Sex Pistols t-shirt Alice had dressed me in, no doubt having connected it to my London flight.

"…_Last call for the 00:00 flight 210 to London_…_this is the last boarding call for the 00:00 flight 210 to London_…"

"You'll have to run to your boarding gate, love." He told me, handing back my paperwork as I stepped into the line to pass through the metal detector. "Wouldn't want to miss your chance to cause a little anarchy."

Right. Wouldn't want to miss my chance. I smiled (or more likely grimaced) at the man, as my suddenly sluggish feet moved me towards the gate.

Two more people in front of me. My body felt like it was wading through quick sand as I stepped up in line. Why was this so hard? Why couldn't I just make a decision and stick to it?

I was at the front of the line. This was the point of no return. Once I was through here, I would be in the International Departures Lounge, and all chance of a miracle occurring would be over. The security man at the metal detector was looking at me suspiciously as I paused in front of him, and I saw him open his mouth to warn me to keep moving.

"BELLA!"

But it wasn't the security man who had called. I whipped around, startling the people behind me in line. A man was sprinting through the airport crowd, knocking people out of the way in his haste.

"BELLA!" He called again, desperate eyes fixed on me as he neared. "DON'T GO!"

I didn't know what I expected, but it wasn't this.

Because the man running towards me _wasn't_ Edward.

* * *

**Bah-bah-bah.**

**I know, I know, I'm like a horrible cow for ending it there. **

**Actually I really **_**am**_** a horrible cow, and I wanted to end it at the cliffhanger :)**

**But how awesome is Bella for the note/g-string/engagement ring? It's totally what I would do! **

**Review and…I've run out of incentives here, so I'll keep it simple.**

**Review and you get a sweaty horny Edward to make pretty bronze-haired babies with! **


	41. Miracles

**Holy Hotdog! **

**There were over 450 reviews for the last chapter within the first 12 hours! I am completely awed and humbled by you all. **

**Please forgive me for not responding to a heap of people, but I promise I read all of them and adore you all for being so invested in reading this. **

**I'm going to try and personally thank all those lovelies who have been faithfully reviewing each chapter, I think you're all amazing and the reason I can be bothered writing as apposed to dealing with other real life shit is because of YOU!**

**Oh, and special thanks to RoseArcadia, who is like my PR rep over on the twilighted thread (link on my profile, or search the all human forums for His Personal Assistant).**

**Also, there are MINOR changes, mostly grammatical, to the earlier chapters, as I'm trying to go through the whole story and fix up any errors. **

**Now onwards – towards our Happily Ever After!**

**

* * *

BPOV. **

"BELLA!"

But it wasn't the security man who had called. I whipped around, startling the people behind me in line. A man was sprinting through the airport crowd, knocking people out of the way in his haste.

"BELLA!" He called again, desperate eyes fixed on me as he neared. "DON'T GO!"

I didn't know what I expected, but it wasn't this.

Because the man running towards me _wasn't_ Edward.

It was Carlisle Cullen. I couldn't have been more shocked if it had been Harry Frickin' Potter.

The man at the metal detector cleared his throat pointedly and gestured to the side of the line. "Miss, if you're not going through to Internationals I'm going to need you to step out of the line."

"But I'm – Alrighty." I cut my protest short, knowing full well I couldn't just _ignore_ Carlisle.

In such a state of shock that I was moving on pure instinct, I quickly grabbed my carry-on and my jacket out of the x-ray tub, just before it went through without me. As I turned away from the line, Carlisle came to a screeching halt behind me, Gucci loafers sliding on the tiles. It would have been hilarious if I could work up the emotion to notice.

"Thank you for waiting," he gasped, bent at the waist with his hands on his knees, trying to catch his breath. The numbness was wearing off as I wondered what in the name of all things sacred he was doing here, quickly being replaced by irritation.

"Well I can't wait long. In fact, I'm already pushing it to make it to my boarding gate in time. Jake is probably wondering where I am." Not that I gave a flying crap about Jacob Black, but I was feeling rather nervous at Carlisle's dramatic entrance and wanted to escape.

"It's fine." Carlisle wheezed, straightening up and wiping his brow. "If worst comes to worst I'll talk to the airline about bumping you to the next flight. This is incredibly important."

I took in the determined set of his jaw, so like Edward's, and the fierce worry in his eyes, and that horrible feeling, the one where you feel like you've missed a step going down the stairs, assaulted my stomach.

"Oh my God, has Edward been hurt?" I asked frantically, clutching at his arm as my head spun dizzyingly. The idea that Edward was in pain was inconceivably horrific. "What's happened, Carlisle?"

I was practically shouting, and Carlisle took in the glare of security as he gently led me to one of the terminals benches, sitting me down and plopping down next to me.

"No, no," he promised me as soon as I was seated. "No one has been hurt, but I need to tell you something before you make a decision to leave."

What in the hell was this man going on about? I was seriously considering the idea that he was nuts as my irritation returned to maximum force. "Um…I don't know what you're thinking, but I'm about ten minutes away from boarding my flight. The decision's been made." _You son made it for me Friday morning. _

I got out of my seat, because this was seriously insane, and people don't just _not _show up to their flights because random billionaires wanted to have friendly bloody chats.

Carlisle followed me as I huffed and puffed my way back into the metal detector line, pinching the bridge of his nose in a move Edward had inherited.

"Bella, don't you want to know the truth?" He asked, stepping in front of me and blocking my path. I could see that we were about two seconds from being taken away for a full cavity search by security, and only because I had no desire for a scary woman named Helga to stick her latex-gloved fingers in _any_ of my orifices did I listen to Carlisle.

"The truth about what? Who shot Mr. Burns? Area 51? The Kennedy Assassination? Seriously, no disrespect, Mr. Cullen, but I don't see how anything in _my _life has anything to do with _you_."

Carlisle laughed, rather nervously. "Actually Bella, the current state of your life has _everything _to do with me, and my own damned pig-headedness. Give me five minutes of your time and if you still want to go away for a year, I can have you on the next flight out."

I looked between the line and Carlisle, knowing that if I delayed for one more second I would most definitely miss my current flight. But even as I bit my lip anxiously, I knew there was no way I could leave without hearing whatever he came all this way to say to me. Not to mention, the idea of Jacob realizing he was on the flight alone was tremendously appealing.

Carlisle almost fell over himself in relief as he led me towards one of the 24-hour cafés that lined the edge of the departures terminal. He ordered an espresso and paid for the Coke I grabbed, and then led me to an out of the way booth where we could maintain the decorum of privacy.

"Five minutes, Mr. Cullen. What could you possibly tell me that's going to change my mind?" I asked him as soon as we were both seated.

Carlisle took a deep breath and a fortifying sip of his espresso before beginning. "I'd like to apologize for leaving this conversation so late. Well, no, I have a lot more to apologize for, but that's a start. I should have spoken to you _weeks _ago. Instead, I was wrestling between what is logical and what is the right thing to do, and I only came to a decision when Esme gave me her ah…_candid_ opinion."

He smiled at the memory of Esme's candour, and I couldn't help but reluctantly smile with him. From what I knew of her, Esme opinion would have been very blunt indeed.

"So what conversation is this exactly?" I asked him, trying to get back on topic.

"The one where I tell you the horribly selfish things I've done and hope you can forgive me." I opened my mouth to tell him he was being a cryptic S.O.B, but Carlisle held up his hand up to indicate he knew that already. "Edward and I have had a difficult relationship for a long time now. When Esme first wanted me to retire we were arguing relentlessly. And – as I'm sure you know – Edward basically had to run CIC in my stead. Emmett and Jasper…" Carlisle gave an amused snort.

"Spend their days sorting M&M's into corresponding colour piles?" I offered glibly, even though I didn't really understand where this was going.

"Exactly, God Bless them. Edward has had to step up to the plate a lot earlier then most. It was last year, when Edward was twenty-three, when Esme and I separated because I didn't want to give up my job. Which was shear stupidity considering I was so miserable without Esme that Edward needed to do everything anyway. You know, obviously, about what happened with Angela during our separation. That was in the height on my depression, and afterwards I handled the situation as badly as Edward's handled you leaving."

I ducked my head to avoid his pointed glance, wondering how much he knew about our breakup.

"When I found out that Angela was pregnant I was…devastated. I'd like to be able to defend myself by saying I was irrational…but the truth is that I was too rational, too logical. I'd just gotten Esme back and I knew I couldn't live without her again. Esme felt that a child would be a tangible reminder of my adultery, and neither of us were at a stage where we could handle a scandal like that being flashed across the press." He must have seen the look of disapproval in my eyes, because he nodded in acknowledgment of his selfishness. "So I did what was logical, I went to Edward, who I knew could handle this burden, and who I knew was closest to Angela. After the punching, we agreed he would support Angela until his mother and I were strong enough to deal with the situation. And then you came along, Bella."

Carlisle smiled warmly at me, the same dad smile I'd seen him give me before. "I was shocked when Edward indirectly told me you two were…together."

I cringed, remembering Edward answering his phone to who he _thought _was Emmett; "_Listen to me, you fucking bear, I actually have _Bella_ pinned underneath me right now, seriously: _Bella_, so unless you're lying in a pool of your own blood I...I...oh, hello father_."

"I thought it was a classic case of the son repeating the father's mistakes." Carlisle continued. "Already Edward was having to deal with Angela and Ben, and at the time I was still naïve enough to think that Ben was a "situation" that needed to be minimized and controlled. I was worried that the press would see Edward with Angela, and that he would go public with your relationship, and that his name would be slandered. Edward was already dealing with so much, and instead of looking and _seeing _how happy you made him, all I could think about was how my mistakes could permanently ruin his reputation, his career, the trust people have in him as the figurehead of Cullen International. I should have gone public, announced I was Ben's father. Instead I decided to get rid of you."

Both of us cringed this time, and I began feeling the bubbling of rage inside me. "Did you never think that maybe Edward lo-loved me? That I love him?"

"Not at the time, I honestly just thought you were another fling." Carlisle looked miserable as I hissed at him like a fucking snake. "At that disastrous family dinner, where the truth of what happened with Angela was revealed to my other boys, I finally saw the truth. Edward was – _is – _completely and utterly in love with you. Hell, I think it goes beyond that into a scary level of awed worship. The tangible misery I felt rolling off him as he sat next to you that night, the intimate way you two interacted, well, lets just say I realized I'd made a terrible error of judgment. But by then it was already too late."

I tried to think how it was "already too late" then, how Carlisle had planned to get rid of me, and suddenly it all clicked into place.

"I am so fucking stupid!" I growled loudly, startling several people in the café, though I was too far into my dawning understanding to care. "God dammit. I mean, my grades are great, but how could I ever have thought that video application Jake and I sent in would get me this scholarship? You did something, didn't you?"

Of course he did. This was the man who had just casually suggested he could reorganize and entire airline to bend to his will. It would have been easy for him to mess with one measly graduate scholarship.

"I called the Dean of the Business Department and managed to coax him into pushing you to the head of the nominee pile. It wasn't hard," he said bitterly, like he fucking regretted it now.

"So there's some poor shmuck in my Business class who probably put a hell of an effort into applying, who _deserved _to win, and they just got, what? Bumped back in the pile?" I spat at him, my body shaking in fury and my fists curled. Carlisle was well on his way to getting another broken nose. "You've made a mockery of everything. You think you can just throw money or your name around and move people like fucking pawns? Well it doesn't work that way. You _will _make this right."

Everyone in a twenty-meter radius was staring at us, and I seriously couldn't give a flying crap at the moment. If security wanted to take me away right now, they'd have to set Chuck Motherfucking Norris on me, cause there was no way I'd go down without a fight with the way I was feeling.

I had to give Carlisle props. He didn't hide his face, his didn't make any effort to placate or calm me. Instead he looked me steadily in the eye, owning up to his faults completely, and said steadily, "Tell me what you want me to do."

What _did_ I want? I was now facing the same kind of decision Carlisle had with Angela. Did I want to do what was logical, or did I want to do what was right?

If I were doing the right thing, I would tell Carlisle to work his magic on the Dean of Business (_again_), work out who had rightly earned the scholarship, and get that lucky duck on a plane. I'd stay in New York, with no job, no home, no school for six months, and no Edward.

If I were being logical, I'd tell Carlisle to work his magic and get me on a flight to London as soon as possible. I'd forget that we'd ever had this conversation, I'd reap all the benefits of a scholarship I hadn't earned, I'd run away from my broken heart.

A few months ago, before Edward Cullen had become an integral part of my personality, there would have been no competition between the two choices. The cowardly path would have won out. I would have gone to London and hidden my head in the sand. But Edward _had_ come into my life, had shown me love and affection beyond which I had ever known, and had irrevocably changed me.

I wasn't going to be the girl who runs away from her problems anymore.

"I want _you_ to do the right thing. _I _want to do the right thing." I told Carlisle finally, and to both his surprise and my own, I found myself reaching across the table and gripping his hand firmly. "Find out who _really _deserves the scholarship and make sure they get it. And…" I hesitated, because this next part was really none of my business. "I think you need to acknowledge Ben as part of the family – as much as Angela feels comfortable with. Jasper and Emmett want to get to know their half-brother, and they'll respect you so much the more if they can do so without having to tiptoe around you and Esme."

Carlisle squeezed my hand and offered me a hesitant smile that I wasn't ready to return just quite yet. "I'll contact the Dean tomorrow and make sure that the right people receive their dues, and I don't see why we can't get you your job at CIC. It will take some shuffling around, but it can be done…and about Ben…since everything came to blows between my sons and I, Esme and I have been talking and we quite agree with you. It's time to make the Cullen's, _all _of us, a family again." I realized when he said "all" he meant _me _too.

"We broke up, Mr. Cullen," I muttered, feeling traitorous tears welling up in my eyes. "He pretty much told me he'd be seeing other people and that his engagement ring was a fucking trinket. I don't think I'll be a member of the Cullen Clan anytime soon."

"Your engagement ring?" Carlisle asked, shocked, before a scheming gleam entered his eyes. "Was it something pretty from Tiffany's perhaps?"

"Esme's grandmothers ring?" I explained, though it sounded more like a question, as I was wondering why that particular detail was important.

To my surprise, Carlisle laughed. "Dear, let me tell you a little something about Edward. He's as stubborn as the day is long, he always thinks he's right, and once he's decided on something, he sticks to it. He's decided on _you_, Bella Swan. I saw it that night at the restaurant, and if I'd been able to see past my own nose, I would have seen it that day in his office, when I told him not to repeat my mistakes and he told me he wouldn't give you up. Edward would have _never _given you that ring if he thought he could ever be with anyone else. Whatever he said to you, I can tell you without a doubt in my mind that it was crap. He was _trying _to push you away, probably for some altruistic, gallant, completely _Edward _reasons. Don't give up on him, please Bella. Don't allow me to have ruined this for both of you. _Fight for him_."

I avoided Carlisle's piercing stare, looking over towards the internationals gate where I could see a crying woman embracing a man in a military uniform. He was trying to remain stoic as he shouldered his rucksack and held onto the woman, but even from a distance I could see the fear and love in his face. Watching them, seeing the simple, wordless, potent love between them, I realized I couldn't give up on Edward.

Carlisle was right. I'd been waiting for a miracle to occur, for the Heavens to suddenly open up and for everything to be perfect. But like I'd thought before, waiting anxiously for my flight – miracles _don't _happen.

People make their own mistakes, they make their own decisions, they decide their own fate. For everything he'd done wrong, Carlisle was able to sit across from me and own his life choices. It was time I owned up to my own life.

If I wanted a miracle – If I wanted to be with Edward – then I was going to have to make it happen.

"Carlisle," I said, getting to my feet and wiping my eyes. "If you'll excuse me, I've got a date with my fiancé."

**

* * *

Alright, people who were against Bella, she's on the right track now, aint she? I think she's done very well for herself! **

**Next chapter is the reunion and likely the last before the epilogue. **

**Review and you get an Edward Sundae. **

**(Think about all the places you could lick chocolate syrup off him ;)**

**Oooh, and congratulations to newborn Cayden Thomas Farr, who's Auntie was reading his mommy this story while she was in labor! This chapter is dedicated to the searing pain of a C-Section and the miracle that comes afterwards :)**


	42. Eleventh Hour

**Hi, just quietly, PMing me and telling me I'm being selfish for taking so long to write this doesn't actually make me write faster. It makes me mad. As for those who were NICE about it, I apologize for taking so long, but I honestly post as soon as I finish. Thank you for being dedicated enough to beg me to hurry, you're all awesome. **

**Ooh, and go here: ****www(dot)southernfanfictionreview(dot)com and read the awesome reviews! **

**And this is just random, but there's been a HEAP of you who've reviewed faithfully each chapter, (I read ALL the reviews) so I would like to thank: **Stella, Ivygirl702, SnapCrackledThePop, edwardbabymomma, PrincessBella24, coldplaywhore, roach79, Sunnydaaaayyys07, NotJaneAustin, pippyXYZ, GaniTheTwilighter, addictedtoOTH, TypicalTwilightMom, ICPinkFuzzyBunnies, Edwardspetwolf, sober alcoholic, slyt, addictedtotwilight79, mad4hugh, Flightlessbird11, mugglemom08, silvia, RoseArcadia, , mssammydean, juliebee, Onyx1901, Rina22, 09xuereba, DarknessXAnime, edwardandbellabelong2gether, Carolyn81, rpattzdude, ravenj84, Elizabeth Anne Ashburn, Stormyinco, Ri40, KnightPrincess13, roach79, carolbenatti, anothertwilither, G.I Jazz, bookobsessive, 09xuereba, ** and about 10000 more, so if I've missed out on you tell me off in a review and I'll apologize profusely in the next chapter! **

**Okay, just a little timeline so ya'all know where we're at: **

**Bella's Bon Voyage party was on Thursday night. At the party Edward blurted out that he remembered proposing to Bella. **

**Afterwards Edward proposed again, Bella accepted, then they had the huge fight and Edward left. **

**Friday, Bella came to Edward's office to talk to him and they broke up. ****This picks up there, at the end of Chapter 39 "Resigned". **

**

* * *

EPOV. **

"_Goodbye, Bella, Angel. I fervently hope you will be happy in whatever you do." My voice cracked, and I cleared it so I could beg my love for one last request. "Please keep my -. Please keep the ring. Please."_

_I closed the door behind me._

_Hope – painful, dangerous hope – would not allow me to take my ring back._

The phone in my office was ringing. My mobile phone, on the floor in the pocket of my disregarded pants, was playing "Kiss Off" by the Violent Femmes. Bella had picked the ringtone. She had said it was because I drove her crazy and sometimes she wanted to tell me to piss off, but I could always convince her otherwise with just a kiss.

Maybe I could convince her now. Maybe I could get up, stop crying like a fucking pansy, get dressed and explain to her that I'm an insecure asshole who pushed her away because he's incapable of making her happy.

But no – I was capable of that, surely. I could make her happy. I'd give her everything she had wanted before I made her hate me. I'd quit, Cullen International could go to hell, I'd tell grab a bag, get on a plane, and show up on my Angel's doorstep a la' _Good Will Hunting_.

I mean, I _knew_ she hated me right now, after the horrible way I'd just pushed her away, but at least she had kept my ring. That had to mean _something_.

I scrambled to my feet, going over to the sink and splashing water on my face. I could hear someone moving around in my office and had never been gladder that I had a bathroom and a closet, considering the fact that I was butt naked. I quickly scrambled into the only casual outfit I had in the closet, a pair of worn jeans and a t-shirt. I probably needed a shower, but I smelt like Bella and sex and wasn't ready to wash that scent off just yet.

"Edward?" Jasper's cautious voice reached me through my closet door, and I laughed, a high-pitched nervous sound, for no reason at all.

"One second!" I called back, still laughing. Even as I frantically scrambled into a pair of socks and sneakers, I recognized that I was in a hysterical panic, a slaphappy, zoned out state where if I just kept moving, I wouldn't have to dwell on what I'd just done. And what I was already regretting.

I bundled out of my bathroom door, making the door slam loudly against the wall as I powered into the room. Jasper whirled around from my desk in surprise, his eyes wide in what looked like panic as I surveyed the office.

In our haste to have "one last fuck" (I physically winced, just remembering those callous words coming out of my own mouth) we had knocked over the chair in from of my desk and had sent papers scattering to the floor. The pillows were hanging off the couch and my suit and shoes were scattered around.

Yesterday the sight would have made me particularly proud and horny as hell. Today it made me sick to my stomach…and horny as hell.

"What happened with Bella?" Jasper asked in a carefully neutral voice, as I frantically searched my pockets for the keys to the Volvo. It took me a while to work out that I had only been wearing my jeans for about two minutes, but before I could dive for my pants on the floor Jasper grabbed me by the shoulders.

"Edward, I'm not letting you drive anywhere like this," He told me seriously, rightly guessing that I was looking for my keys. I wondered what "like this" was, because it wasn't like I'd been drinking or anything, but he answered that for me. "How can you even see through all those tears, hmm, little brother? Just sit down for a minute please."

Was I still crying? I reached up and felt my cheeks as Jasper sat me down on the couch. I was indeed bawling my fucking eyes out.

"No, but it's okay now." I muttered, thinking out loud. Jasper crouched down in front of me and looked at me with something akin to pity. "Just have to go and beg and she's still wearing my ring so there's hope and-"

Jasper's eyes flickered over to my desk and back to me, before he abruptly stood up and leaned against the desk. I saw the panic flair in his eyes again as he crossed his arms and faced me.

"Tell me what happened Edward. Bella showed up at my place just before I came to work with a whole bunch of suitcases." I flinched, his words hitting me like the lash of a whip.

"That was fast." I choked out, because Jasper looked like he wanted a response. "I can hardly blame her."

"Fuck," Jasper groaned, running a hand over his face in frustration. "You did something, didn't you? You pushed her away."

"I-I proposed to her again last night after her party." I admitted, as I could see telling Jasper this was the only way I was going to get rid of him. "And then we got into a huge fight because I presumed that meant she was staying in New York. She told me that her trip was all sorted and that she couldn't just cancel. And I basically told her to quit school, not have a job, and that she could live off me for as long as she wanted. I believe the particularly offensive term I used was "a woman of leisure". She just loved that."

I wasn't surprised when Jasper lunged forward, like he was about to grab me and shake some sense into me. I _was _surprised when he stopped mid-lunge and hastily leaned back against the desk again.

"Please tell me you weren't that stupid Edward?" He growled at me through teeth clenched in frustration. "Mom raised you better then to disregard all of Bella's dreams because you need someone to warm your bed every night. She raised you better then to be a scared little bitch because you think Bella's going to outgrow you."

I was on my feet without consciously realizing it. I could feel the bone of my knuckles turning my skin white as I clenched my fists. "Don't talk about her like that." I spat at him. "I don't want her just to _warm my bed_. I love her so fucking much."

"And what happened today, Edward?" He taunted me, a relentless, determined gleam in his eye. "Why is the woman you love at my house crying her eyes out?"

His words and the mental image I conjured, of my Bella with red-rimmed eyes, brought a sharp pain to my chest, and I dropped back onto the couch before I fell over. "She came to talk to me." I rasped finally, once I could control myself. "But I could see that I'd already hurt her so much, that I'd already ruined everything. So I did what I should have done in the first place. I let her go."

"Except Bella isn't an idiot, Edward." Jasper snapped, watching me carefully still. "She wouldn't just accept that. You must have done something more."

"I-I wasn't kind about it. I told her I thought it was better if we broke up, and that if we were both still single when she got back then maybe we could try again."

And Bella believed me. That was the most painful part. She believed the lie, even though I'd told her a thousand times how much I loved her. How could she possibly think I could _ever _want anyone but her? After all the times I'd told her she was the only one I'd ever loved, could ever love, _would _ever love.

"But it's not too late, right?" I whimpered to myself, jumping to my feet in another burst of panicky energy. "She came here because she loved me, she agreed to marry me, I can fix this."

I don't know what the hell I had been thinking. It had been under an hour and I could barely stand the gaping hole in my chest. I _had _to fix this. I should have known by now that I was too much like my father. I had seen him, everyday, after he and mom separated. He was miserable, a shell, a walking time bomb. I could already feel myself sinking into the same pit of depression.

I was going to dive for my car keys again, but I noticed the emotions rolling off my brother. Disappointment – that wasn't surprising, considering I was feeling acutely ashamed of myself too. Anger – I had no doubt I was probably seconds away from a punch to the gut. But the third confused me. Alarm.

Jasper was panicked, nervous.

"What is it?" I asked hoarsely, fearing the worst. He had seen Bella earlier. Perhaps I had hurt her when we were having sex? After all, I tore at her like an animal, wanting to be buried in her forever. It had been far from gentle. "Is she hurt?"

"Besides the emotional fuckery you've subjected yourself and her to? No. But I don't think you'll be able to fix things as easily as you think."

He _knew _something. I was under the impression that he'd only seen Bella briefly, but what if she had talked to him? I needed all the information I could get if I was going to have her in my arms again.

"What did she tell you Jazz?" I asked him eagerly, wiping my eyes because my eyelashes were wet and sticking together.

Jasper was watching me carefully, and I could see the battle going on in his eyes. I saw the exact second when compassion won out over cruelty.

"Forget it," he muttered, shaking his head at me. "You're already going to be masochistic enough about this, without anything else adding to it. Just go home, cool off, and _think _before you see her."

He wasn't keeping _information_ from me; he was _blocking _something from me. My frayed mind finally absorbed his stance, the way he was blocking my desk from view, the tense set of his entire body. I immediately rushed him, trying to get around him to see what was there. Jasper's grabbed me by the shoulders roughly, shoving me back a few steps so I couldn't see.

"Whatever it is, I fucking deserve it!" I spat at him, clawing my hair out with one hand and pushing at him with the other. "I _deserve _to be masochistic about this. My girl is in _pain _because of me. So just fucking MOVE!"

With one last almighty push I managed to shove Jasper out of the way. My ring was the first thing I noticed, followed by the white folded material. There was a note under the neat pile, and I gingerly picked it up, fingers shaking. It took me three tries to make out the words written in her untidy scrawl, and for the rest of my life I would wish I hadn't seen them.

"_Edward – a few trinkets of our time together. I can see now getting me out of _both_ of these is what was important to you_ _– Bella_."

I collapsed to my knees with a dull thud.

Pain seared me.

Hope fractured.

I fractured.

* * *

Hours passed. Emmett had warned me yesterday (or this morning?) that if I kept going like this I was going to have to get my stomach pumped. I was ashamed to say I half wished that would happen.

I had vivid fantasies of Bella showing up at my hospital bed, crying tears over me, telling me she loved me and that I couldn't let anything happen to myself. I would reach for her with heavy arms, pull her against my chest and croon in her ear, telling her _shh, Angel, I'd never leave you_.

That fantasy carried me through an hour or two before bleak reality set in. Then I just drank some more.

Emmett was staying at my apartment, taking the "suicide watch" as he called it, probably trying to make sure I didn't choke on my own vomit. I wouldn't have minded, would have even preferred the company, but he couldn't go five fucking minutes without meddling. Meddling – such as letting random people into my place.

That was how I woke up to Carlisle's face, concern etched across his features. I was pretty certain it was Saturday. Though, in all honesty, my time keeping skills were a little skewered lately. Either way, Carlisle was supposed to be in Forks, not in my apartment in New York.

"Wha' the hell you doing in my bedroom?" I asked him groggily, wiping the sleep out of my eyes.

"You're on the floor in your kitchen, Edward. It's Saturday night." Ah, yes. Kudos to my time keeping skills. "Emmett let me in before he went to see his girlfriend."

I got up off the cold floor, hastily shoving Bella's panties back into my pocket and patting down my other pocket to check the ring was still there. Then I registered the indulgent little tone he used when he mentioned Rosalie and Emmett together. "Well, I'm so glad you approve of Rosalie but not my B-"

I made a choking sound and swallowed back the bile in my throat. If _thinking _her name hurt, saying it out loud would surely kill me.

"I wanted to talk to you about Bella," Carlisle blurted, and I swore he look almost nervous. "I think there's something I need to tell you-"

"NO!" I staggered to the foyer, fishing out my wallet and door key from the table near the door. "I'm _sick _of carrying the burden all your fucking secrets. I have enough to deal with on my own, thank you very fucking much."

I was furious as I rode the elevator to street level and lost myself in the heavy pedestrian traffic. People gave me a wide berth as I tugged at my hair and muttered angrily under my breath. My father's visit had me in a blind, drunken rage. He had no right to unload more secrets and more guilt on me. I had problems of my own – and this was only day bloody _one_ without Bella. How was I going to be in a week? A month? A year?

There was no way I was going back to my penthouse in case Carlisle was waiting for me, and I knew if I showed up at Emmett's I wouldn't be allowed near any alcoholic beverages. The idea of showing up at Jasper's, where I knew _she _would be, had me clutching at a street lamp for support.

So that was how I found myself, still in the t-shirt and jeans I'd thrown on after Bella left yesterday, tossing back drinks in the VIP lounge of some bar. Thankfully the Cullen name opened any doors, as my appearance was somewhere between Unabomber and hobo. There was a group of giggling businesswomen sitting in the same area as me, but they were talking amongst themselves and thankfully ignored me as thoroughly as I ignored them.

Without any distractions I found myself fingering the scrap of lace in my pocket, remembering how amazing my Bella looked wearing it, how she must think I wanted nothing but sex from her if the note left for me was any indication.

I laughed bitterly as I slouched down on the comfortable couch. Was this what my life was going to be like now? Sitting around in bars, mooning over a pair of f panties, wanting to drown out the world?

_If it's drowning you're after, don't torment yourself with shallow water_.

Well, who was I to disagree with old Irish proverbs? The pain I needed to drown out would definitely need more then a few shallow drinks. And I _definitely _didn't want to drown without a lifeguard.

"Jazzzzzz…" I rasped, once I had managed to dial his number on my phone. I was barely aware of the words coming out of my mouth. "Jazzzz…I changed my mind. I know I told you earlier that I thought I deserved to be a fucking masochist about this, but it hurts so much. Too fucking much, man. I don't think I'll be able to get through…look, just come get drunk with me…well, actually, I think I'm already drunk, but it hasn't stopped hurting yet sooo – grab Emmett and come get _more _drunk with me! Please, Jazz? _Please_, I'm so fucking tired and I don't want to be alo-"

The lady sitting next to me, one of the giggling women, suddenly reached over and snatched my phone out of my hand. My reflexes were so shot that I didn't even attempt to take it back. She could fucking keep it for all I cared.

"Come on, handsome, don't you know the rule about not drunk-dialing people?" She laughed at me, snapping my phone shut in my face.

I couldn't help but turn to her and raise my eyebrows, because at the moment handsome was something I most certainly was _not_.

"Okay," she agreed when she saw my look, turning on her couch so she could face me properly. "Not handsome and um, you kind of smell a little, but you still shouldn't drunk dial. Someone broke your heart, huh?"

"I broke my _own_ heart." I muttered back, taking the phone she held out to me.

"Very melodramatic." She laughed, watching me scull down the rest of my beer. "Did you cheat on her?"

"Never," I hissed in fury. I don't think I could ever touch another woman. The thought of decades of celibacy ahead of me made me whimper. "She was better off without me."

With my empty beer bottle I signaled the waiter for another one, turning to my companion. She was an older woman with a wedding band, and she seemed taken aback by my anger.

"Did you treat her badly?" She guessed, as her friends continued to chatter behind her back.

I could understand how she would come to this assumption considering my less then warm conversational skills, but I could help but clench my fists at her accusation.

"She is an Angel and I tried to treat her as such." I told her stiffly, not liking having to examine my own behavior. "When I realized I was making her unhappy, I let her go. End of story." _End of happiness_.

"Well did she want you to "let her go"?" She asked knowingly, eyebrow raised.

Now I was sneering, hoping this woman would just take the hint and leave me the hell alone.

"Not at first, but I managed to change her mind pretty fucking quickly." My sneering bravado wore off for a minute and I added honestly, "I would have made us both miserable and I couldn't do that."

The lady looked me over, from head to toe and back again, and I could see that I had been judged and found seriously lacking.

"Honey, I'm pretty certain you haven't saved _either _one of you an ounce of misery. And let me ask you what I ask my husband every time he thinks he knows what's best for me; what right do _you_ have to make decisions for _her_?" She challenged me, smirking like she'd just proved the theory of Relativity or that aliens really do exist.

I balked at the question, my head spinning. My companion laughed at my expression and turned backed to her friends, leaving me to hunch over with my head between my knees.

What right _did _I have to play God? Absolutely none. I had regretted pushing Bella away even as the callous words came out of my mouth. About twenty minutes after I ran and hid, I was already planning on running back to her. The panties and the engagement ring on my desk had deterred me in seconds. Such a fickle creature shouldn't be making such life-altering decisions for someone else.

I just had to stop this. It had barely been a day and I knew I this had to end. Not because _I _was in pain, but because if Bella was feeling even an ounce of what I was going through, I had to try to fix it. Even if she didn't want me anymore, I had to go to her and tell her the honest truth. I had to leave no doubt in her mind as to my true feelings towards her. I had to tell her that I would be hers, permanently, whether she wanted me or not. That I would always be waiting for her.

She needed to know that I had lied. That I was completely and utterly _done_ thinking I knew what was best for people.

I don't know how long I sat there, plans swirling in my inebriated mind, but I felt people encroaching on my space at the same time my determination and plan solidified. I looked up to see Emmett and Jasper standing over me and knew my eyes were blazing with manic intensity.

"Edward, you called us for a drink, remember?" Emmett asked me cautiously, surprised as I jumped to my feet in determination. My hand balled around the fabric in my pocket and the ring I'd slipped onto my little finger.

"Sorry guys," I told them, "I gotta see about a girl."

**

* * *

That last line is a quote from Good Will Hunting. Love it.**

**So both Bella and Edward are ready for a little reconciliation. Thank god, because I hate going so many chapters without using the word "cock"! **

**And if that is incentive enough to review and be excited about the next chapter, then I don't know what is ;) **


	43. Stay

**Yay for renewed use of the word "cock"…**

**1281 words in, in case anyone was wondering…**

**I think I need therapy... **

**

* * *

BPOV.**

"_Carlisle," I said, getting to my feet and wiping my eyes. "If you'll excuse me, I've got a date with my fiancé."_

I made it two determined steps before Carlisle cleared his throat. "Um, would you like a lift?"

Huh. Yeah. Good point. "Yes, yes I would."

I could tell Carlisle was trying not to laugh at me as he picked up my hand luggage and escorted me towards the exit. Just as I was trying not to think about how my suitcase was currently taxiing down the runway with nobody but Jake for company. I had a feeling I was never seeing my underwear again.

As it was, I would have expected myself to be feeling a of bucket load of nerves. And I _was_ nervous, nervous that Edward wouldn't want me back, that he would only think I was coming back because Carlisle had told me the truth. But really, I don't think I could have gone through with it anyway. What Carlisle had told me was just the straw that broke the camels back. I had felt…_wrong_ with every step I took away from Edward. I felt anxious, of course, heading back, but my anticipation at being settled once and for all with my friends and Edward outweighed that completely.

Carlisle, on the other hand, seemed more and more fretful with every step we took towards the temporary parking complex.

"What's eating you now, Daddy-C?" I asked him, practically jogging towards his Mercedes and dragging him by the arm along with me.

"Daddy-C?" He asked me in response, making me blush ten shades of red, a reaction I long thought was behind me.

"Yeah, argh, go right ahead and forget I said that out loud, Mr. Cullen." I muttered, letting him chuck my luggage in the trunk as I bounced up and down at the passenger door.

"How about we settle for a middle ground?" He laughed, unlocking the car and holding me door open for me. "Call me Carlisle. I insist."

I rolled my eyes at the fact he had avoided my question, getting into the car and noticing from the clock on the dash that it was a little after midnight.

"Do you have a key to Edward's apartment?" I asked him as he pulled out of the parking space. I had given mine to Jasper, not wanting to be tempted to go over there and curl up in the library or sniff Edward's aftershave. "He's probably going to be asleep."

I'm pretty certain Carlisle blushed as he murmured, "yes, he gave me one when he first moved in. I still keep it on my keychain."

And _that _was why it was impossible for me to hate Carlisle Cullen, despite all the misguided decisions he had made.

"Also," he continued, his voice hesitant, "I don't want to intrude, but I feel I should explain my part in this to Edward, I tried to talk to him on Saturday-"

"What?" I squeaked, interrupting him in my surprise. Did Edward know the scholarship was a scam? If he did, he was probably thinking I was a horrible bitch for taking what someone else had rightfully earned. "What did he say?"

We had left the bright lights of the parking garage and were in relative darkness, but the dashboards pale blue illumination allowed me to see the pained look on Carlisle's face. "I didn't really get to speak to him," he admitted in a quiet, guilty voice. "He wasn't doing so well in the wake of your breakup."

"Oh." I felt like something was lodged in my throat, constricting me from swallowing properly. I coughed softly to try and clear it. "You can talk to him first, if you want. It's probably for the best to get everything out in the open now."

"Thank you, Bella. I can't think of someone more deserving for my son."

I felt my cheeks redden (again) at his compliment, and silently prayed he was right.

By the time we reached the penthouse I was a mess of tension and hope, an almost comical comparison to Carlisle, who was starting to look a little green. Despite this, both of us were just as determined to talk to Edward, so much so that we were completely disregarding the fact that it was close to one in the morning.

The lights in the foyer and kitchen were off, though the city lights coming in through the window meant we could see fine. After we'd checked the library and the living and ascertained he wasn't there, Carlisle plonked down on a sofa and I went to wake Edward up.

As stealthily as possible, I opened the door to Edward's – _our _– bedroom, noticing first that the curtains were open and I could clearly see again.

And what a vision I was presented with.

Edward was lying on his back, whimpering slightly in his sleep. The sheets had ridden down during the night, exposing half of his naked body, down to the bronze hair between his legs. On of his hands was flat against the v of his hipbone, as if he was about to start touching himself at any second.

My hormones kicked in and I knew it was too good an opportunity to miss.

Not even thinking about the fact that Carlisle was waiting in the living, or that our relationship was technically over and that I was rather mad at the way he had treated me when we last spoke, I knew I _had _to crawl into that bed and surprise him.

I toed off my sneakers and socks, tugged frantically to get my skinny jeans off, pulled my t-shirt over my head, and crawled to the side of the bed. With a ninja like stealth, I lowered my weight onto the mattress until my legs were under the sheets. Then I held my breath and curled against the side of his body.

Now let me tell you a little known fact about Edward Anthony Cullen.

That motherfucker is a sleep humper. A major, fiddle with your boobs, pant against your neck, sleep humper. I knew it wouldn't be long before his unconscious body registered the warmth of mine against it, and, sure enough, after a few minutes of my rubbing myself against him, Edward moved.

His hands came down towards me, curling over my waist as he rolled so that his chest was against my back. I heard him sigh wistfully as he pushed his face insistently into my hair, his breathing hot against my neck. I rubbed back against his groin, grinning like a champ when I felt him swelling against the curve of my ass. I felt the throb of my inner muscles, as I grew damp in response to his arousal. Because somewhere inside me there was a bit of programming that stipulated if Edward had an erection, I better be damn ready for it.

When I rocked back against him particularly hard, Edward grunted in his sleep and raised the hand on my waist up, so it was grabbing at my sheer bra. His cock was trapped between his stomach and my lower back, close to fully erect, and I knew he was waking up when he rasped, "Bella…"

Not wanting to waste another second of his blissful ignorance – because I knew once he woke up there would be fighting, tears, and all things bad – I rolled over in his embrace and cocked a leg over his pelvis, so his swollen length was pressed against the inside of my thighs. His eyelids fluttered, he hissed my name again, and then he roughly grabbed my leg and brought it up between his as he undulated underneath me.

At around the same time I was about to attack him with my tongue, Edward's eyes abruptly opened. I expected him to be shocked at the sight of me, to either jump out of bed while cursing me or alternatively scream like a Nancy-boy, but he did neither.

Instead, he let out a ragged breath and an oath at the sight of me lying on top of him. His hands came up to cup my face and he fixed our foreheads together, his eyes narrowed on my lips. "Never want to wake up…" He murmured in a husky voice, licking his lips and tilting his head in preparation to kiss me. "Stay with me please Angel…"

Which made me feel like a cad. He thought he was dreaming. And I knew then, I just knew, that everything he'd said to me on Friday had been a lie. All that stuff about seeing other people, about how it was just one last fuck, it had all been crap. Edward was looking at me as if I made the sun rise, as if I was his personal savior.

I quickly pulled my face out of his grasp and sat up, even though turning away from the naked longing in his gaze went against all my base instincts. "Edward, you are awake. This is real." I told him softly, because I'd be damned if our next kiss was going to be with him thinking it was in his head.

As realization dawned, Edward finally had the reaction I was expecting, suddenly sitting up and staring at me with eyes widened in shock. "Bella?" He breathed, as if I was an apparition that would disappear at any second. "W-what are you doing here? Your flight left on time at midnight, travel conditions were ideal. I was checking. What's happened?"

I felt my eyes welling with tears at the idea that even though we'd left things how we had, Edward had been checking to make sure I was okay. "I couldn't go through with it," I admitted to him, wiping my eyes on the sheets. I saw a flash of savage hope in Edward's eyes, and his hands instinctively clamped down on the tops of my shoulders. "Your dad came to get me."

He made a choking sound and squeezed my shoulders into a painful shrug. Then he started rambling, his words stumbling over one another as if he couldn't wait to get them out. "He did that? He had no fucking right. I mean, he tried to talk to me on Saturday, but I didn't think he'd dare interfere with you. Besides I think you leaving m-you leaving was the desired result."

Shit. I had a feeling Carlisle was going to be getting another punch in the face. "He's sort of waiting in the other room, we thought it was best that he explained the situation to you."

One of Edward's eyebrows rose, a la' the Rock. "What situation?"

_The one where I'm hoping I'll be asleep in this bed before sunrise_. "Um, I really think you should talk to your dad…" I reiterated, trailing off and avoiding his eyes, which was proving difficult, as Edward was now cupping my face and leaning over me intently.

He got up onto his knees and rubbed my cheeks with his thumbs, staring carefully into my eyes. "I honestly don't care whether my father's responsible for the apocalypse. Bella, _Angel_," he sucked in a shuddering breath and asked me in an uneven voice, "Are you staying in New York?"

I nodded between his large hands and watched the most fascinating change come over him. It was like watching the Berlin Wall being torn down. The tension seemed to dissipate from his body and his hands dropped to his sides as if he could no longer hold them up. He exhaled a long, rattling breath as if he'd just been brought back from the dead.

His obvious relief had set in and robbed him of his energy, but just as quickly it returned, causing him to jump up and catch my face again. His green eyes narrowed in on my lips again and I swore I could feel the blooding pumping in them in response.

"May I kiss you please, love?" He breathed against my cheek, still smelling of toothpaste. "Please?"

My hormones mindlessly ordered me to lean in towards him and catch his sleep swollen bottom lip, but common sense righted me before I could move too far. "I know I climbed into your bed, cause honestly, it was too good a chance to miss, but you have to go talk to your dad and then me, properly, before we consider doing anything."

He studied me carefully again, eyes dancing between mine as if trying to pick the thoughts right out of my brain. Finally he released me carefully and kissed the tip of my nose. "It's _your _bed too." He muttered as he shuffled to his feet. "Always."

I would have given him some response to that, but he was standing, naked, in front of me, rubbing his stomach with one hand and stretching the other behind his head. I'm pretty certain I drooled on the Egyptian cotton sheets before I scrambled to my feet.

Edward reluctantly went into the walk-in wardrobe to get some clothes, shooting looks at me over his shoulder the whole time as if I was about to disappear in a puff of smoke. When he returned in pajama bottoms and a ratty t-shirt he was bouncing on the balls of his feet, as ready to get this show on the road as I was.

"Try not to punch him, okay?" I asked him carefully, leaning back against his bedroom door and resisting the urge to smooth my hand through his hair, as that would only lead us back to the bed. "Remember that he only did so much, I still made the final call."

I had switched on the light when I threw my clothes back on, so I could easily discern Edward's eyes narrowing predatorily in anger. Not the kind of predatory anger he'd show me after I'd been cock-teasing him and he was about to attack me, but the kind of anger a cheetah would show in the Serengeti. The kind of anger that made his next, calmly spoken words full of menace.

"No promises, Sweetheart."

Despite his anger at his father, he held out his hand to me in a docile, submissive gesture, as if he expected me to fling it away in disgust. When he ducked his head and shot me a shy look from under his lashes, I knew I was completely done for.

I took his hand and opened the door, pulling a still meek Edward towards the living room. His thumb was rubbing little circles on my wrist, but when we stood facing Carlisle, he gently detangled his hand so he could clench it into a fist.

"You have something to say to me?" Edward asked in his scary-calm voice, eyeing flickering back to me repeatedly. His glance would change from defensive to vulnerable from Carlisle to myself.

"Why don't I give you some privacy?" I suggested, seeing Carlisle's obvious unease and wanting to lessen the awkwardness.

"Thank you, B-" Carlisle started, but stopped when Edward swiveled around to face me, looking like he was about to have a panic attack.

"Don't leave." He whispered to me, grabbing my hands and kissing the tops of my knuckles over and over. "Just don't, _please_."

"I'm going to wait in the library," I told him carefully, trying not to cry at the blind desperation in his eyes. "You can come get me when you're finished."

Edward's teeth pressed so hard into his bottom lip he looked like he was going to break through the skin, but he finally released my hands and nodded jerkily. "I'll be quick." He promised in a rush. "Please stay."

I have no doubt that the guilt I saw on Carlisle face as I passed him matched the guilt on my own. What the hell was the point of putting Edward through this if I wasn't going to be able to go through with it anyway? Granted, Edward had actively contributed to our demise too, but it was my ambition that had caused this mess.

I paced the library for twenty minutes before I heard an Edward bellow a loud oath and Carlisle let out an "Ooof!". Hopefully he hadn't broken his nose again. When I rushed into the room, Carlisle was tipping back his head and sitting on the couch, with Edward standing over him.

"Are you okay?" I asked Carlisle nervously.

"Fine," he responded nasally, waving my concern away with the hand that wasn't clenched to his nose. "Everything's fine."

"_He_ was just leaving, love." Edward explained to me, his eyes fixed on my face with a look of greedy consumption. It was like he was storing away my features for future use. "We can talk now."

I was about to agree, but one look at Carlisle's heartbroken, resigned, regretful face and I knew I had to give him a proper chance. I had no doubt in my mind that he hadn't been able to tell Edward anything past his plot to get me out of the country.

"I'm leaving you guys alone again." I ignored the flash of alarm in Edward's eyes and marched over to squeeze his hand, whispering my next plea in his ear, "I'm not saying it was right, but what Carlisle did was done because he loves you. Please at least listen to all he has to say."

Edward ducked his head so he was at eye level with me, gauging the sincerity of my request. "I'm doing this for you," he finally sighed, stealing a swift kiss from me before I could untangle our hands.

I went back to pacing the library, and when Edward came hesitatingly through the door fifteen minutes later, his glance when straight to my lips again.

"Why are you doing that?" He asked me softly, pointing a finger at my mouth. "Did I hurt you?"

I realized I was holding my fingers to my lips, as if trying to hold onto the memory of Edward's lips pressed against me for the first time since Friday. Five days since I'd last had a kiss from Edward, and even then, our kisses had been filled with anger and regret.

I knew he saw the reminder of Friday in my eyes, because when he came forward to sit on the couch, it was like he was collapsing in on himself.

"I have a lot of explaining to do." He said; a statement, not a question. "About what I said to you. And I know I had no right to ask you this, considering what my words must have done to you, but please, may you sit with me?" His face was sheepish and desperate all at once, as he held his shaking arms open to me. "I don't think I can handle you so far away."

"What if we can't work this out, Edward?" I asked, despite my fierce desire to run straight into his waiting embrace. "You seemed to have no problem letting me go on Friday."

"Let me explain," he pleaded, violently running his hands through his hair. "I can't lose you."

I realized we were going backwards through this, that we were discussing actions he had taken in _response _to something I'd done. To slow us down, and in concession to the fact that we both wanted it, I sat snuggled down against his side on the couch, both of us facing the empty fireplace.

"This is my fault," I admitted to him quietly, staring forward and ignoring his eyes roving over my face. "Before I met you all I could think about was doing well at school. The only people that really mattered to me were the girls and my parents, and those were easy relationships with people I'd known all my life. I didn't have to show them how I felt, because we just _knew _each other." With the melancholy in my voice, I saw Edward's hands clench and unclench on his lap, and knew he wanted to hold me. "But then I met you, and everything was just…I'd say fireworks, but that's just so bloody cliché. Lets just say…I was feeling all these things I'd never felt before. And I'd gotten so used to being with my family and friends, who knew how I felt and didn't have to be told, that I acted callously without realizing it."

"Bella-" Edward said hoarsely, and this time he did take my hands. "You have _never_ acted callously. _I _was the one who pushed you away, I was the one who said all those horrible things to you, who made you cry!" He keened his last point like it was the gravest of sins.

"We'll get to that," I told him, because I was not so much of a push over that I could just forget the way he had treated me. "The point is, is that when I found out about going to London, I should have been confident enough in my feelings, in _your_ feelings, to realize I could never have gone through with it, that it would hurt us both too much to be separated."

"But you didn't," he mumbled quietly, and I could tell he didn't mean to say it when he swiftly trailed his hands down to my wrists, making manacles with his long fingers, afraid I'd move from him. "Carlisle had to come. If he hadn't…"

His disbelief was what I had feared, but I still wasn't prepared for the croak of his desolate voice as he trailed off. "No, Edward, no!" I tried to shake loose my wrists, but he held them tighter, fear in his eyes. "You don't understand, every step I took away from you was agony. It was like…it was like I was dragging a boulder behind me. I honestly don't know if I could have gone…and even if I did, whether I could have _stayed_. I kept waiting for you to show up at the airport, I was waiting for some miracle to occur and make everything right. And one did happen. Your dad showed up, he told me the truth. When I turned around, when I started walking towards you, instead of away, it was like I was _weightless_. I didn't know if we'd even get a chance to work everything out, but I felt _right_."

His grip on my wrists had slackened, so I quickly brought my hands up to his face, cupping it between my palms and feeling the stubble on his chin.

"Do you believe me?" I asked, because it was so damn important that I made amends. That he understood I wasn't just here because I had nowhere else to go.

"I do," he whispered, and to my intense relief, I saw that he _really _did. "Thank you for explaining, darling. I think it's only fair I do the same."

"Oh Edward," I caressed his face once more before dropping my hands back to my sides. "Maybe before I met you, I wouldn't know love when it was staring me smack bang in the face, and maybe I was too hurt to see it then, but I know you didn't mean those things you said. I just don't understand what the hell you were thinking."

Edward pulled me closer to him, his arm sliding hesitantly around my shoulders. "I'm so sorry, Bella. You accepted my proposal and I was so happy you were finally mine and I just – _ruined _it. I never meant to insult you, but I was so desperate after you told me you were still going that I would have suggested _anything _to get you to stay. When you pointed out how selfish I was being…I realized you were right. I _was_ being a bastard. I was lashing out at you because you're it for me and I've never needed someone before, and I need you so badly that going without you for however long was my worst nightmares come to life. I'd promised myself that I wouldn't make you unhappy and that's exactly what I ended up doing."

I was angry, I was annoyed, but I still couldn't consider moving away from the comfort of his arms. "I guess that's what Jazz was talking about when he said you had a skewered moralistic code. So you realized you _our_ fight – and I'm calling it that because I had my part in it as much as you did – upset me, and you decided the best way of dealing with that was to sever all ties with me?"

Edward looked miserable, like a man burning up from the inside. The terror I'd seen in his eyes since he woke up, the fear that I'd just walk out the door, seemed to consume him as he pulled me tighter to his chest, arms wrapping around my shoulders to keep me still.

"I couldn't see another solution." He admitted, his tone heavy with his misery and obvious guilt. "Just like you, I've never _loved _anyone but my family. And I've never, ever needed someone like I need you. Everyday that your scholarship loomed closer, panic and desperation would well up in me. I treated you badly and I knew I'd continue to do so if we tried to have a long distance relationship. I am, as we can no doubt both agree, a selfish prick. I pushed you away to spare you that. But please know; every word was a lie. I could never love a woman besides you and I tore my own heart out that day, even suggesting it."

He was looking at me expectantly, half hopeful and half afraid, waiting for me respond with something other then a blank stare. "So that's it? You broke up with me in the worst possible manner you could, and then what? What have you been doing, feeling, since then? Because I felt like I was missing a limb." I hated being so open, so vulnerable in telling him that, but it was time for honesty.

He took so long in replying that I turned in his arms, turned to see a hesitant, careful look on his face. I saw him make a decision and the determination that followed it. "I was a mess. I've been drinking myself into a numb stupor. I felt the same as you, as if I'd torn out my heart and left it with you."

"How can I know that's true?"

"Let me prove it to you." He begged, eagerly threading his fingers in my hair. "I promise that you will never again doubt the intensity with which I adore you, love you. I've felt that way since the second I looked into your eyes, I've never _stopped_ feeling that way, and I damn well never will. Just stay with me, please, and…" he cut off his words with a maniacal laugh, bundling me against his chest as he rose to his feet. "…Here I am trying to convince you I want you, when the fact of the matter is I'm incapable of giving you up anyway. Time, I suppose, is the only way you'll believe me. Now, love, you look like you could use some sleep? We can talk about everything else in the morning. You can take our bed for yourself if you want."

"I want to fall asleep with you."

Edward's smile of hope and love was blinding as he gently lead me out of the room and into the hallway.

But I still couldn't hide myself from the thoughts poisoning my mind. If he was so incapable of giving me up, then why _had _he been? He'd made it clear he'd spent the last four days wallowing in a drunken depression. Eventually, even that would have ended, and I knew, I _knew_, there was no way he expected us to have ever gotten back together; especially after the note I'd left him.

In the bedroom, Edward stripped off his shirt with a flattering degree of speed, ducking his eyes as I shimmied once again out of my jeans. I was too exhausted to do more then that, so I allowed him to tuck me into bed, reverently kissing the tip of my nose again.

"I'll love you," he whispered, as he enthusiastically curled up behind me, "always."

"I love you too." I whispered back, feeling his legs tangle with mine and his face rest in my shoulder with a happy little sigh.

We may have both admitted our mistakes, we may both have acknowledged we couldn't really function without the other, but something was still nagging at me.

Edward had been _resigned _to giving me up, to giving in.

Somehow, I had expected more from him.

**

* * *

Sooo…anyone else expected more from lil' Eddie? **

**One more chapter and then epilogue…and I actually mean one more chapter this time…possibly. **

**Reviewers are statistically more likely to be sleep-humped by gorgeous billionaires. **

**Take the hint and show me some love! **


	44. Donkey Kong

**So I've decided to split the final chapter into two, cause it was getting ridiculously long. **

**Here's part one. **

**And wow, very mixed opinions from that last chapter. **

**Most agreeing with Bella, which always shocks me, as I know how hard it is to disagree with a distraught Edward! **

* * *

**BPOV.**

It had been two weeks since I decided not to go to London.

It was insane how chaotic things were; trying to organize my life when the original upheaval had only lasted long enough for me to make it the airport and back. Less then two hours of drama, and my entire world had come crumbling down around me ears.

Carlisle had kept his word, giving the scholarship to the girl who should have rightfully gotten it in the first place. I felt horribly guilty that she was expected to pack up her entire life and jump on a plane with about six hours warning, but when I had checked with Carlisle he promised me she was incredibly excited. Jacob Black had rung me as soon as his flight had landed, and needless to say he hadn't been happy that I wasn't coming and that someone else was.

Edward had been with me when Jake had called, and I could tell he was trying not to laugh when Jake started blubbering over the speakerphone. Hell, _I'd _been trying not to laugh, too. Besides being a little territorial, Jake was essentially an alright guy. The fact that he had once been a good friend was all that stopped me from telling him the truth about our joint video application.

Carlisle going out of his way to help me, to make things right, had helped to thaw out the relationship between him, Edward, Jasper and Emmett somewhat. I knew they had a long way to go, but I could tell with the help of the women in their lives, the Cullen men would get through their rough patch. If fact, once Angela would come back into town (she was currently take Ben to meet his grandparents interstate) I had a feeling they'd all be bonding over little Ben.

Carlisle had also held up his end of the bargain when it came to getting me another job at Cullen International. Both Edward and I had acknowledged that if we wanted our relationship to be properly received in the public eye, it was best that I didn't take back my job as his First Assistant. Instead, Carlisle organized for Emmett's Assistant to be promoted, and I was given the job. I was still unsure as to whether that was a kindness or not, as Emmett and Jasper had been insufferable since my aborted flight.

When I had surprised them all, the morning after I returned, both Alice and Rose had cried again, this time in relief. I felt guilty for playing with their emotions, but they had waved that aside and had just been terribly grateful that the Three Musketeers wouldn't be broken up anytime soon. The boys, however, had been an entirely different matter. As soon as they spotted me, I saw Emmett discreetly hand Jasper a check. Apparently Smug #1 and Smug #2 had a bet going on whether I would actually leave the country or not. Jasper had won, of course, and having Emmett as my boss after I lost a bet for him was an exercise in extreme patience.

My parents had been disappointed when I rang to tell them I wasn't going to London, but they had understood that it would be wrong of me to take some other students place. If nothing else, they had raised me with integrity and to be conscientious of others. Despite their disappointment, I still had my work at CIC, and I was still going to graduate and be as successful as possible. But at least now I knew were my priorities should have always been.

With Edward. As promised, we had both been trying to show each other how we felt. Edward explained to me the guilt he felt when he had wanted me to stay, and how he had tried to shield me from that as much as possible. I in turn confessed how foolish I felt for not trusting my heart, for being so focused on my career I couldn't see what was really important; a life with him, no matter _what _I was doing for a living.

By talking about everything, we came to understand and accept how the other had acted and why. In the mean time, we had agreed to take our physical relationship slowly, wanting to focus on creating a level of trust I don't think we'd ever really had before. Before we broke up, and even before London had been an issue, both Edward and I had struggled to reveal our true feelings, and by keeping the progress of the physical stuff to a minimum, we were forcing ourselves to do so now. It was gratifying to see he was taking this as seriously as I was, wanting our relationship to be as real, as strong, as possible.

Even then, I was officially living with him, because we frankly couldn't handle too much distance from each other anymore. It was partially a consequence of what had happened, but our need to be around one another was at an all time high. I knew it was something that would fade, as we grew more confident in the strength of our feelings, but at the moment we spent every night clinging to each other.

And I had been right – I _should _have expected more from Edward.

When I had found out that after our disastrous parting on Friday, he had done nothing more then drink and resign himself to losing me, I couldn't help but be disappointed. From the desperate way he had clung to me when I returned, and from the way he had treated me _before _that break up, I would have expected him to realize us separating was an epically bad idea.

He had realized.

It took me two weeks to find out that fact, but he had.

It happened as I was sitting at my desk, in the foyer outside Emmett's office, once again about to kill my boss.

"_Goooobbbbberrrrrrr_…" Emmett was drawling in a sing-song voice, "_oh_, Goober…"

I clamped my hand down on the twitch above my right eye. A newly developed, Emmett induced twitch. The moron had actually had me help move his desk, so he was at a perfect angle to throw things at me through his open door.

I was not at all surprised when a waded up bit of paper hit me on the side of the head.

"WHAT?!" I roared at him finally, about to go all _Office Space _on him and torture him with a series of rather nasty paper cuts. "I'm going to kick your ass, you ingrate!"

Emmett rolled his chair around the width of his desk, so he could poke his head through the door and grin evilly at me, twiddling an invisible mustache.

"What?" I repeated irritably, ignoring his grin as I shuffled through my inbox.

"Nuthin'." He shrugged, laughing at me.

I rolled my eyes and went back to work, glad that even though Emmett was a child trapped in a man's body, I still had an enjoyably challenging amount of responsibilities. No matter how good a chance London was, there was no denying working at CIC put my at a distinct advantage for my final year of school and for my future career.

I was finally managing to concentrate on the document I was supposed to be reading, when Emmett's voice started up again; "_Goooobbbbberrrrrrr_…_oh_, Goober…"

That was fucking _it_.

"I'm taking lunch, asshole!" I shouted at him, marching over to slam the door of his office shut. Another six months working for Emmett and I was likely to be charged with First Degree murder.

I knew Edward had had a meeting earlier, but we tried to take lunch together despite how busy things were. The extra minutes together were always worth it. I decided to ring his office and see if he was free, feeling distinctly weird about calling what, until a few weeks ago, had been my own number.

"Edward Cullen's office, this is Fern speaking."

When I had been working for Edward he had only two assistants – Jessica Stanley and myself. Usually he had three, but I had been competent enough in the job that it hadn't been necessary. Now he was back to three again, Michelle, the University student who had taken the place as Third Assistant, Jess, who was still Second Assistant, and Fern, who had been promoted from the PR department and who had taken over as First Assistant.

I'd yet to meet Fern, but I knew she had seen Edward post break up and I wanted to make a good first impression. "Hi! This is Bella Swan, Emmett's Assistant. Sorry I haven't had a chance to meet you face-to-face yet, but I've had a heap of stuff to sort through when I transferred Emmett's department."

I expected her to say something in kind, but to my extreme surprise, she squealed like a high school girl. "Bella Swan? Mr. Cullen's girlfriend?"

I felt a fond smile tilting up my face as I imagined what Edward had been saying about me. "Guilty as charged," I admitted to her.

If her squeal had shocked me, it was nothing to what she started raving on about next. "Oh, what he did was sooo romantic. You're so lucky! Honestly, I couldn't imagine a man doing something like that for me."

The clogs in my mind were clicking furiously. Clearly she knew something I didn't. I was going to demand she tell me outright, but I knew she'd be cautious about telling me something about her employer. Instead I just laughed casually and said, "I know I am! I couldn't believe it when he told me."

I was worried she was going to call me on my bluff, but she enthusiastically squealed again. "It was just so sweet, that he was willing to uproot his whole life just so he could be around you. When he called us in here on Sunday to organize everything, he looked so determined. You're so lucky."

Apparently I was. I didn't think I could get anything more out of her, without arousing her suspicions, but she had said "called _us _in on Sunday", so I presumed Jessica could tell me more.

"Thank you Fern. And you sound wonderful to me, I'm sure you'll have no trouble finding a man who loves you." I told her, honestly, because she did sound sincerely nice. "Just make sure to stay away from Mike Newton, he's a man-whore. Now is Edward still at his meeting?"

I could practically _hear _her blushing at my compliment over the phone, but all she answered was, "He's still there. I don't think he'll be back for another half hour. I'll get him to call you when he gets in." I thought she was going to say goodbye, but she added in a rush, "it's the first thing he asks about, anyway. Whenever he walks into the office, it's always, "has my Bella called?" It's really sweet."

I had been crying a lot in the last few weeks, so I wasn't at all shocked when Fern's words almost made me cry again. As soon as I hung up on her I was dialing Jess, determined to find out everything there was to know.

Jess was always a reliable source for a good story, and she was more then happy to regale me with a blow-by-blow account of what Fern had hinted at.

"...So Edward had been a mess after you left on Friday, he stayed in the office long enough for Jasper and Emmett to reorganize his schedule and send him home. I expected him to get drunk and brood, which I totally think he did by the way, but he called me up on Sunday morning and asked me to come into the office for an emergency or something. When I get there the two new chicks, Fern and Mich, were there too, and Edward was looking like crap, as in, majorly hung-over, and fondling this antique looking ring."

I actually let a few tears slip at that part, because I had no doubt in my mind that that was my engagement ring Edward had been fondling. "He tells us, no bullshit, that he wanted us to book a one-way ticket to London, organize an apartment as close as possible to some address he gave us – which, super-sleuth me, I checked, and was actually the address to _your _apartment over there. Then he wanted us to call the overseas office, the Public Relations office, and about nine million other people and start drafting a press release about how he was going to step down as Co-CEO and transfer to the London office for a year."

"Did you ask him about it? I mean; you were the only one there who knew we broke up, right?" I asked her, tears pooling in the silk collar of my blouse.

"Shut it Bella! You're interrupting my story-telling vibe! _Any_way, so as I'm the only one who knew you guys broke up like 24 hours earlier, I casually sidle on up to him and ask him if you'd gotten back together, and he just gives this miserable little head shake and says, "even if she doesn't want me, I can't give up." I think he was planning on showing up on your doorstep and begging for you. Then when he came into work on Wednesday, which I'm guessing is the day after you guys got back together, he looked all sheepish and gleeful and asked us if we would kindly reverse all plans pertaining to London. Seriously. The boss is totally into you, lucky cow."

And that was why my first instinct to expect better was correct. He had been planning on giving up everything for me, even thinking, no doubt, that I'd likely reject him when he got there. That was without question the most romantic thing I had ever heard of someone doing outside a fairytale _ever. _The fact that it was done for me by Edward made me lightheaded with love and happiness.

I had been so afraid of showing my feelings, of making myself vulnerable but now, oh, _now_, I knew Edward deserved the grandest gesture I could possibly give him. He needed to know that I would never again doubt how strongly he feels about me, he needed to be one hundred percent reassured that I would never again be capable of leaving him.

And I knew _just_ the gesture to make him realize all of that.

After Edward had found out that us being together was a result of the Help-Bella-Seduce-Her-Oblivious-Boss Campaign, he had admitted to me how thrilled that made him. He told me that the idea of the woman he loved from afar _actively_ trying to capture him made him feel like he was bulletproof. It made him feel like we were fated to be together, like we deserved to be together.

I, personally, felt he was viewing me through rose-colored glasses – the effects of being in love. But either way, when I had tried to seduce Edward, he had felt loved and wanted. Before we broke up, trying to seduce him again would have been a pointless task, considering he spent half his time with my boob in one hand and his Blackberry in the other.

But we had done nothing more then some heavy breathing and kissing for three weeks, determined to take things slow and ease back into an intimate relationship. Which meant I had just found the perfect grand gesture to show Edward I trusted him, hoped for his trust, wanted him, and loved him.

My resolve iron hard, I wiped up my tears and high-tailed into Emmett's office, slamming the door open and startling the crap out of him.

"What's crack-alackin', little trooper?" He asked, once he'd recovered from me sudden appearance. "Need me to throw some more stuff at you melon-head?"

"Call up Jasper," I ordered my boss determinedly, hands on hip in the classic Wonder Woman pose. "It's time to reincarnate the Help-Bella-Seduce-Edward-Campaign. That boys going to feel like the most wanted man since _Need For Speed_."

Emmett picked up his phone in one hand and gave me a fist pump with the other. "Hell yeah! This Mofo is back on like Donkey Kong!"

**

* * *

I love Emmett, honestly. **

**Can we all imagaine the naughty shit that's going down in the next chapter? It'll be up in a couple of days, so feel free to pass the time by reviewing :)**

**Also, I've been nominated for Best Lemon at The Sparkle Awards, so pretty please go to www(.)thesparkleawards(.)webs(.)com and vote for me/nominate your favorite stories! There are some great stories nominated!**


	45. Stage: Step

**I can't believe this is almost over, peeps! If you want, add me on Authors Alert so you'll know when I start my next story, which will be very soon. **

**And once again, thank you to all my reviewers for making this story happen, because without you I would have given up somewhere around chapter three :)**

**Deep and eternal love for you all!**

**Also, I've been nominated for Best Lemon at The Sparkle Awards, so pretty please go to www(.)thesparkleawards(.)webs(.)com/vote(.)htm and vote for me in the Heat Award- Best lemon category!**

**

* * *

BPOV.**

"You owe me so friggin' big, Bella." Alice growled, her eyes scrunching closed as she yawned hugely. That was slightly worrying, as she was currently applying a light sheen of blush to my cheeks and probably needed her sight for such a task.

"Hey!" Rose called out, offended, "I'm here, too! She's owes _us_."

Alice rolled her eyes at me as she started liberally applying a bronzer strategically to the dips of my collarbones. "You're not even doing anything!" She called back, "I'm the one whose trying to make Bella look like a sex goddess at six am. You're just lying in bed!"

"_Geesh_, I'm here from moral support." I heard Rose mutter.

Jasper, Emmett and I had set up the _ultimate _plan to make Edward a drooling, incoherent mess by the time I got him home today. It was a Friday, and I planned having Edward in bed until we had to go to work on Monday morning. Stage One of our plan involved a rather painful Brazilian wax and a full beauty regiment with the girls over the weekend. Stage Two involved Rose and Alice coming over an hour before Edward's alarm went off and doing my make-up and hair. Stage Three would involve a series of (hopefully) well-executed incidents set up by Jasper and Emmett.

We were in one of the many spare bedrooms of Edward's penthouse, and Alice had just completed the finishing touches on my messy ballet bun and make up. Rose had gotten out of bed, thrown on some shoes, come over, and crawled into the spare bed. I guess it really was the thought that counts.

I was wearing what could only be described as the most boner-inducing outfit in the history of the universe. It was also Edward's utter and ultimate fantasy, something I had emulated for him before, but never to this degree. I was actually worried it looked too much like a kinky Halloween costume, but the girls told me it was just passable for polite society.

I was wearing a crisp, tight white shirt, with short sleeves and a slightly visible frilly white bra underneath. The shirt was tucked into a short tartan skirt, which was red on blue, while the neck tie I was wearing was blue on red. To top off the whole thing I was wearing knee high black socks and high black pumps.

I was the kinky schoolgirl and _Mr. _Cullen wasn't going to know what hit him.

Rose gave me a wolf whistle when Alice and I came back into the bedroom, leering at me in a way only she could get away with.

"Whaddya think, Ro?" Alice asked her, faking a little sniffle like she was holding back tears. "Isn't it every mothers proudest moment when she gets to whore's up her little girl so she can seduce a man?"

"You're right, Al. I'm just so damn proud." Rose grinned and clapped a hand to her heart, joining Alice in her fake sniffles.

I rolled my eyes at them. "Hardy-hargh-hargh. You two are _hil_-arious. Seriously, you guys Andy Dick and Rob Schneider should get together."

After I unceremoniously kicked the girls out I moved on to Stage Three: Step One, which involved me waking Edward up, kissing him goodbye and letting him get a good look at my outfit before I left.

He was where I had left him when I'd snuck out of bed _Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon_ style (after having removed his hand from my chest), hugging the pillow I'd slid in as a replacement for my body. Because honestly, the man was a pouty motherfucker unless he had some flesh to grab at.

I went over to the side of the bed and knelt, so he wouldn't be able to see any lower then my shoulders. Then I leant over and tapped his back, which was facing me. He groaned and snuggled further into the pillow, but I tapped him again, adding a soft, "Edward?"

Finally realizing that he was, in fact, _not_ cuddling me, he rolled over onto his back and blinked at me sleepily. "Why in the name of God's green Earth are you already up?" He croaked.

"Because Emmett's picking me up today, remember?" I reminded him, gently pushing his disarrayed hair out of his eyes. Edward caught my hand against his face with the speed of a bear trap closing, softly pressing his lips into my open palm.

"I want you to come with me," he whispered against my palm, before pressing his lips more firmly. This time I felt the tip of his tongue just touching my skin, and was faintly amazed at how easily he could turn me on without even trying.

"Sorry, sunshine," I told him, gently pulling my hand away so I wouldn't be all…creaming my panties over the first hint of his tongue. "Guess you'll just have to play with your own Assistant."

Edward shot me his best pout as he stretch lazily. "I hate my new Assistant. She smells like cats. And teabags."

I'd gone to meet Fern as soon as possible after our revealing phone conversation, so I knew for a fact he didn't actually hate the woman. And besides, we both knew our relationship was far too important to jeopardize by having me work for him again.

"That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. She does _not _smell like cats. The teabags thing may have some merit. And you're just annoyed that your brother gets to play with me all day."

That actually came out sounding faintly sexual, and I was not at all surprised when Edward gave a little growl. "He _better _not be playing with you all day."

I snorted at the sheer ridiculousness of Emmett ever wanting someone who wasn't Rose, and moved forward just enough to give him a kiss goodbye.

At the soft pressure of my lips on his, Edward sighed happily and cupped my jaw gently, pressing back with his own lips. I loved kissing him when he was below me, loved the way he clung to me, the way he fed off my mouth with a reverence that made me feel almost self-conscious.

I started licking at the seam of his lips, holding back a smirk when he tried to resist complying. It was a rather frustrating fact of the last two weeks in that we hadn't gone further then some very chaste kissing. Because if we even attempted to behorizontalor less then fully clothed or anything below the _neck_, we knew we wouldn't be able to stop. Edward valiantly trying to resist my kiss was therefore not surprising.

What also didn't shock me was that with a breathy groan, his lips parted to my tongue after less then five seconds of me trying to deepen the kiss. I slid my tongue into his mouth, moving it over and around his and moaning victoriously.

His hand on my jaw twitched at the sound; I knew he was resisting the urge to clasp the back of my neck and draw me closer.

When we were both panting for breath I pulled back, watching his face as he stared at me. His eyelids were half lowered, making him look predatory and horny. Holding his blistering gaze, I shakily got to my feet, revealing my outfit to him for the first time.

"Oh _God_," he groaned, eyes roaming my body hungrily, finally settling on the bare skin above my knee socks. "What are you wearing, Angel?"

"You don't like it?" I asked him, twirling in my little skirt and giving him a peek of my lacy white boy-shorts. Before I could fully face him again he was sitting up, reaching forward to cup one of my thighs.

He looked up at me, eyes still dark and ravenous, and swallowed heavily. "Come back to bed," he cooed, "you must be tired. I'll take you to work."

I would have rolled my eyes if it wouldn't have given away the game. Because really, I doubt me crawling back into bed with him right then would have resulted in a cure for my being tired. But obviously seducing him would be far easier the second time then it was the first. I just hoped we'd last long enough for him to realize what I was doing and what I meant by it.

"No can do," I apologized, ignoring the fact that his little cooing voice had been used.

Edward's hand dropped from my thigh and he flopped back down dejectedly. Well, his body lay down…his cock was standing tall.

"Ah, darling, I love you," he sighed as he looked up at me. "As if it isn't hard enough trying to resist you when you're not wearing _that_."

Wow. Boy was just handing me that opening.

I wrapped my hand around his stiff cock through the thin sheet, feeling him twitch in my hand as he gave a gasping exclamation. I gave him a quick pump, loving how he bucked up into my hand even as he bit his lip and tried to withstand.

"Well…" I murmured, using my dusty-but-still-good phone-sex voice, "…as long as it's hard…_Mr. Cullen_."

I released his cock and sashayed to the door, pausing there and sending him a grin, "see you at work," I promised.

I could still hear his groan of defeat as I headed to the foyer.

Obviously Stage Three: Step One was a…_rousing_ success.

* * *

Step Two commenced when Emmett organized for Edward to come down to his office, to shake hands with a client a few minutes before lunch. While Edward and Emmett networked, Jasper and I were purposely sabotaging the photocopier.

"Um, I know you guys like, own the place, but isn't this thing really expensive?" I asked Jasper, as he laid the finishing touches on our little project.

"Copy Machine, $10,000. The chance to fuck with my little brother? Priceless." He shrugged in response. "Now you know the plan?"

Jasper was a meticulous shit when it came to sticking to "the plan", so I rolled my eyes and quickly recited, "In about two minutes they'll have finished their meeting. Emmett tells Edward that we're meeting for lunch, and that I'm in the copy room. Edward comes to get me."

"Correctamundo. Go get em', tiger." He grinned and saluted me as he backed out the open door.

As soon as he was out of eyeshot I assumed my position, hiking my skirt up a little and bending over the photocopier. We had rolled it away from the wall and then removed the wheels it was on, so it would have to be pushed with a good show of force to get it back into place.

I heard a sharp intake of breath behind me, and was relieved to recognize it as Edward's. Ignoring him, I continued to bend over the photocopier, groaning as I pretended to be trying to push it.

"Bella?" He rasped, the door clicking closed behind him. "What are you doing?"

I turned to give him a look over my shoulder, eyes wide and lips just wetted by my tongue. His eyes were narrowed into slits and were firmly fixed on the curve of my exposed ass, his hands clenched in his pockets.

"The photocopier was unplugged, I had to roll it forward to plug it back in. But now the wheels have broken or something, and I'm trying to push it back into place before I call maintenance, considering it's a bloody fire hazard." My voice was annoyed and huffy; trying to throw him off the obvious fact that this was a deliberate set up.

"I can do it, love." He told me absently, one hand coming up from his pocket to rub thoughtfully at his jaw. His eyes were still transfixed by my behind.

"You'll thrust it in for me?" I confirmed, in the same voice, though the way his hand jerked on his jaw made it clear his mind was focused on some very different thrusting. "I think we'll have to do it together," I continued, "you can just come up behind me and push it in."

Seriously, if that wasn't enough double-entendres to get a man hot, I don't know what would be.

Edward's mouth fell open, so that he, frankly, looked like a gaping caveman. I desperately fought back a smirk as I wriggled my ass at him, spreading my legs wider and getting into a better position. "Are you _coming_?" I asked him huskily, adding a little more word play just for the fun of it.

He blinked once, shook his head, and stumbled over to me, his hands quickly forming a cage around me. "On the count of three," his voice was smooth and velvety in my ear; a few tones lower then unusual. I recognized it as the same tone he always used during foreplay and wondered if he realized he was using it now. "One…two…three…"

Edward grunted, his arms flexing on either side of me as he pushed at the photocopier. I was pushing too, but as his hips thrust automatically forward with his push, I was thrusting my ass _back_ against him, so I felt his groin hit my lower back.

The copier moved forward a couple of inches as Edward swore, low and gritty, against my earlobe. I expected him to make a quip about how I was supposed to be pushing the _other _way. Instead, his arms moved in closer to my body, so they were tight against my ribcage and his whole body was covering mine.

"Again," he hissed in my ear. "One…two…three…"

This time, I felt him shove forward with his entire body, his now noticeable erection grinding against my ass. His push was so powerful this time that the copier had slid back into place.

Edward didn't seem to notice the job was done, as his head fell forward against my shoulder and his breathing noticeably picked up. "Fuck…Bella…" he muttered distractedly.

"Fuck Bella?" I purred back at him, "Was that the plan?"

His tortured whimper made my entire being throb, almost as much as when he suddenly grabbed my hands. He smoothly pinned them to the top of the copier, bending me over it and pressing himself firmly into me. Then he began a rough rhythm of rub and grind against me, his breath panting against my neck.

He abruptly bent his legs, so his steel erection was pressed against the now damp space between my legs. He rocked forward and I let out a completely unintentional moan. Apparently my moan woke him up because he stopped, jerking his entire body away from me.

"Shit!" He muttered, as I wobbly turned around. "Sorry. I'm sorry. I didn't even realize what I was doing. You're just so fucking tempting, you have _no _idea."

Actually I kind of did, considering it was totally on purpose. "Looks whose talking," I murmured, leaning back against the copier and rubbing my hips together. "Do _you_ have any idea how wet you make me?"

Edward let out a strangled groan and looked at me with wild eyes, his hands coming up to clench tufts of his hair.

"We have to get out of this room," he hissed, taking a deliberate step back from me as his eyes flickered down to the juncture of my thighs. He looked like a starving man staring at a pot roast, and when he licked his lips I swear I almost blacked out. "Right. _Now_."

Well. I guess Stage Three: Step Two was also an I-think-I-just-creamed-my-panties level of success.

Step Three was already set up when we exited the hottest copy room in history. Emmett and Jasper had gone through all the public elevators and hit all the buttons, meaning by the time we got to the lift there was an annoyed line of people waiting.

"We're going to lunch, right?" I questioned Edward casually – only asking because he hadn't mentioned it and I wasn't supposed to have prior knowledge.

He was clenching his jaw and not looking at me, still majorly worked up; but his gentle fingers were rubbing softly against the back of my neck, which was exposed by my bun.

"Right. I was supposed to asked you before…but you're, um, all distracting and stuff." I could tell he was restless and before I could even make the suggestion, he was doing it himself. "C'mon, little Angel, lets just take my lift. It'll be quicker."

_Way to walk right into my plan, Edward_.

He kissed the tip of my nose, snatched up my hand and began tugging me towards his office. As we went, I wondered idly how long it would take him to realize I was seducing him again. I had no doubts that Emmett and Jasper were betting on when Edward's realization would occur.

As soon as we were enclosed in his lift, he shot me an apologetic look and stood as far away as possible in the confined space. The fact that he was obviously worried about jumping me made me want to run victory laps to the theme of _Rocky_.

"I haven't been in this lift in ages," I told him, putting on my best nervous face and worrying my bottom lip with my teeth. "It's surprisingly scary."

"Because you're remembering when it broke down?" His faced was concerned, but his voice blazed with determination. "Don't worry, I told you then, when you had no idea I loved you, and I'll tell now, when you _know_ I'm crazed over you, I would never let you step inside the lift if I thought it wasn't safe. Do you believe me?"

He had _no _idea how much I believed in him.

"Of course I do. But will you hold me anyway?" I asked him in a deliberately small voice, shuffling my feet and peeking up at him between my eyelashes.

He swiftly followed my request, folding me up into his arms and crushing me to his chest. "You're always safe with me, Bella." He whispered into my hair, stroking his hands down my back.

I could feel that he was still aroused against my hip and I knew we didn't have much time, so I quickly got to the essence of what Step Three was about. "Will you distract me?" I asked him as I clutched at the front of his shirt. "Like you used to?"

I felt his chest heave in a shuddering breath as he realized what I meant. Our first kiss had happened in his elevator under the same pretence; of distracting me from being afraid.

"A distraction…" he muttered into my hair, "…I can do that for you."

I had actually expected more trepidation on his part, so I had to work quickly and stealthily to hold down the close door button. Then his mouth was on mine. I could tell he was trying hard to be gentle, to sweetly cup my face, to soothingly suck my bottom lip between his.

But I'd applied a liberal amount of his favorite cherry flavored Chap Stick, my secret weapon.

"_Bella_." He let out a dry sob against my lips and his kiss became far less chaste.

Hands firmly came around and under my skirt, grabbing my ass and squeezing roughly. In response I buried my hands into his glorious hair, using it to tug and grind his face into mine. He grunted in my mouth, sucking on my lips with a renewed fever as he kneaded my skin. When he'd licked and sucked every trace of my Chap Stick off, he used the hands on my behind to cleave my body closer to his, crushing the softness of my breasts between us and startling a gasp of delight out of me.

My exclamation of pleasure spurred him on, as they always did. With frantic movements, he lowered his hands to my thighs and curled them inwards as his tongue continued to dominate mine. We were both panting into each others mouths, desperate to breathe, but Edward kept his lips latched to mine, determinedly making me light headed.

It was only when I gave a forceful tug and turned my head to the side that I noticed I'd forgotten to hold down the close door button. The elevator was wide open on to the fifth floor corridor, just outside the employee restaurant. Mike Newton and Lauren Mallroy were standing there with their mouths open in shock.

"Hey Bella," Mike grinned, when he saw that I'd realized they were there. And because he was apparently the biggest idiot on the planet, he added; "Loving the outfit."

Edward's head had dropped to my neck as he regained his composure. But at Mike's words, he gave a growl like a pit bull and raised his arms to my waist, tugging me possessively to his chest.

"Ah, yeah, thanks, Newton." I coughed awkwardly, resisting the urge to break into hysterical giggles at our current situation.

"Yeah," Edward repeated sarcastically, finally straightening up to glare at Mike. "_Thanks_, Newton."

I couldn't help but grin widely as we pushed past Mike and towards Step Four, all the while with Edward's hand resting firmly on my hip. So far Stage Three had been executed to perfection.

* * *

Step Four involved me sitting opposite Edward at lunch and purposely playing a very provocative game of footsie with him under the table. He was still incredibly worked up (as was I) from the elevator so I knew even my gentle teasing was driving him to the brink. I spent twenty minutes casually running my foot around his ankle. Then I kicked my heels off and wriggled my feet in his lap for another twenty minutes.

When he gave a very loud and obvious grunt, Emmett and Jasper notched up their conversation to an ear-splitting volume. The darkly provocative look Edward shot me then let me know that he most definitely knew that the Help-Bella-Seduce-Edward Campaign had been reincarnated.

But it wasn't until after dinner (which was Stage Three: Step Five, purely because Emmett said food was the way to a man's heart) that Edward finally spoke up. We had migrated to our usual spot in the library in front of a fire, and I was sitting on the couch with him leaning back between my legs.

Of course, the position was just too good to pass up, so I was firmly massaging his shoulders and rubbing my smooth, bare legs against his sides. "How does that feel?" I purred at him, sounding like Pussy Galore.

"Heavenly," he replied. Only his voice didn't sound like a man in Heaven's might, it sounded strained, painful, like a man going through Hell. It sounded like I was driving him nuts.

"Something wrong, baby?" I asked him, so close to the end of the couch that my legs were straddling his back.

"Oh nothing," he shrugged – in what was supposed to be a flippant gesture but that came off as jerky and unhinged. "Just that the woman who can make my dick hard by doing _nothing _has spent all day actually _trying_ to make me turn around and maul her."

"Caught on, have we?" I purred, and was not at all surprised when he stiffened noticeably under my hands. I would bet my bottom dollar that his shoulders weren't to only part of him that had gone stiff. "Just like I caught onto _your _little secret."

His nervous swallow was audible even over the crackling logs in the fireplace. "My secret?"

"I found out you were planning on moving to London." I admitted, losing the phone-sex voice for a moment. "I can't believe you were willing to sacrifice your entire life just to come after me. Why didn't you tell me?"

Edward didn't turn around to face me as he responded, which was understandable. I knew this whole "revealing our true feelings" thing was new to both of us, and that it would take sometime before we were completely comfortable with the openness and vulnerability it entailed.

"I guess…I wanted to start fresh. I was so horrible to you, and I thought it was only fair that I have to work to gain your trust again. I spent all of Friday and Saturday after you left drinking and feeling wretched. Then I just had this wake up call. I realized how idiotic I was being; breaking up with you, making decisions for you and making us both miserable in the process. So when you were so brave and amazing by coming back for me, I didn't want to get brownie points for something that never happened in the end. Plus, I didn't want to tell you and make you unhappy, by reminding you of the life you could have had." He ducked his shoulders in a slight flinch at the idea of my being unhappy.

"Well I found out," I told him in a faux stern voice. His shoulders ducked again, and I quickly became more serious. I would definitely have to work on when it was appropriate to make jokes. "And even if it never happened, it was the sweetest thing I've ever heard of. That's what today was about…my way of showing you I love you, I'm _happy _with you, and I damn well want you. Just like the last time I tried to get in your pants."

"You do?" He breathed in awe, his legs jiggling in excitement. "Want me, I mean?

"Always," I promised him. I uncurled my legs from around his chest, so he would be free to move. "Always; but _particularly_ right now. So if you'd turn around and maybe show me you want me too, I'd be much obliged."

There was a lingering pause in which Edward became very still. I saw the muscles under his shirt clench and heard his breathing become uneven. "You want to know how much I love you? How happy it makes me to be with you? How much I fucking _ache_ for you?"

His voice sounded unhinged, and I felt my own breathing picking up as I imagined the animal my answer would unleash. Softly, barely able to get the two syllables out, I whispered, "show me."

Immediately Edward twisted around, the sight of his face making me automatically gasp. His eyes were black, his nostrils flaring, his lips set in an open-mouthed snarl. I expected him to pull me into a bruising kiss, so I naturally squealed in shock when he dropped down so he could press his face roughly between my legs.

He tugged me until I was so close to the end of the couch that I was straddling his face, and when he spoke next, his voice was muffled against the inside of my thigh. "Do you have any idea," he murmured softly, skimming his nose against my sensitive skin, "how often I fantasize about having you cum again and again on my tongue?"

_Holy shit on a stick_. The way he paused against me was indication that he was actually expecting me to come up with a coherent answer. "Umm," I hummed, tugging on his hair and trying to pull him closer, "about as often as I fantasize about sucking on your cock until you forget your own name?"

Edward shot to his feet, tugging on my hands until I was on mine too. "You do it on purpose, don't you?" He asked me darkly, as his nose rubbed against mine, "Push me so far that I lose my mind. You want me to fucking attack you."

"One hundred percent correct, Mr. Cullen," I grinned devilishly, hoping to goad him a little further. "Though I still don't know if you have it in you."

I knew I was in trouble when Edward smirked, this devastating crooked twist of his lips. "You wanna challenge me, Sweetheart? Lets see whose begging by the end of the night…"

Before I could respond to his contest he was dragging my body against him and grinding his lips down on mine. His kiss was so deliciously aggressive that I automatically gasped, earning me a wickedly sinful laugh against my lips. His teeth nipped at my lips and his tongue plunged into my mouth, and suddenly there were two animals in the room.

I pushed aggressively at his chest so he stumbled towards the door, leering evilly as I licked my lips. "I think I definitely want to challenge you, Edward. And I plan on winning."

I saw the eager excitement in his eyes a moment before I pounced on him. I knew without a doubt that he enjoyed the way we pushed and pulled at each other when it came to our desires.

We crashed out of the library, through the kitchen and down the corridor, fighting and clawing at each other as we bounced off walls. His hands were everywhere on my body, and his tongue lapped at my mouth and skin as he made keening, needy sounds that drove me to whimper and moan in response.

He had torn off everything but my boy-shorts by the time we made it into the bedroom, and I'd gotten everything but his gorgeous Calvin Klein boxer briefs. When he broke away from me to kick out of them, the sight of his cock bobbing free actually made my mouth water, like one of Pavlov's dogs.

Before he knew what had hit him, I was tackling him onto the bed, forcing him flat on his back and straddling his knees. Edward made the keening sound again as I brought my mouth to hover over him.

"You remember what I was saying about my little sucking-your-cock-fantasies?" Not allowing him time to answer, I gave him one wicked grin and lowered my mouth onto his cock, swallowing him whole. His surprise dissipated quickly; turning into something that looked almost like anguish, as he fisted the pillows on either side of him and gasped.

"Fuck…love feeling you gag on my cock…"

I was already well aware of this fact. Edward had often tried to physically restrain himself when we were together, through fear of hurting me in his apparently "psychotic fucking desire". This was never truer then when I was giving him head. He tried desperately not to lose control…and I tried desperately to make sure he _did_.

When I started slurping happily on him, bobbing my head up and down his shaft and tugging on his head with my tongue, it was a satisfyingly short amount of time before his hands were buried in my hair, his blunt fingernails scraping my scalp.

"Please…" Edward moaned, head thrown back, the veins in his neck prominent, "Bella, _stop_. Don't…want…to come…so soon…"

This was darn amusing to me, considering he was doing all the work at this point. Edward was holding my head still as he bucked up his hips towards me, mindlessly fucking my mouth. As he moved he kept grunting pleas under his breath; "Stop…want to cum _in_ your tight pussy…please…"

I opened my mouth as widely as possible around him; breaking the suction I had going and making Edward's hands fall to his sides and his head fall back against the pillow. That lobotomized look I was often graced with after subjecting him to my oral skills was on his face.

"Remember your name, baby?" I teased him, watching as his eyes went from glazed to fiery and determined.

"I promise you shan't remember yours by tomorrow morning," he growled back at me, flipping me onto my back and reversing our positions.

Without preamble his mouth came down to my chest, peppering my nipples and breasts with sucks and kisses. As his mouth worshipped me, his hands were trailing down my stomach, his fingers hooking into my boy-shorts and easing them over my hips. His eyes were closed as he sucked one of my nipples into his mouth, so he was blind as he guided my boy-shorts the rest of the way off my legs and bared me for him.

I knew he was about to encounter the results of Stage Two, so I focused my eyes on his face as one hand rubbed my belly and the other slipped down to cup me between my thighs.

He began to gently rub my mound, but when he realized I was completely bare for him he froze abruptly. His eyes still closed, Edward's mouth released my breasts but stayed flush against my skin. I could feel his breathing, already harsh, picking up to the point where I thought he was hyperventilating. Finally, the hand between my legs moved, confirming that my hair was gone. His eyes popped open and looked down at his moving hand with something akin to awe.

"Oh fuck…holy God…so fucking soft…Bella, Angel…fuck…" He was incoherently chanting under his breath, his hand running over my newly bare mound feverishly.

"Do you like it?" I asked innocently, spreading my legs slightly in invitation. His cock, erect and swollen between us, bobbed when I moved, letting me know that he _definitely_ liked it.

"Spread them wider, please." Edward ordered, in that scary-calm voice that made me a puddle. My legs flopping open like he'd spoken the words "Open Sesame".

"I can see how wet you are. I can see that pretty little pussy…" He muttered under his breath, shuffling down my body until his mouth was level with me. "Fuck, I've got to taste you."

When his mouth clamped down on my sex we both moaned instantaneously in pleasure. He kept his eyes locked on mine as he began taking deliberate, long licks of my slit, becoming more eager as the moisture increased.

When I began to buck underneath him, trying to press myself closer to the tongue that was lapping at my opening, he plunged it inside me, soft enough to make me crazy, substantial enough for me to really _feel _it.

Edward let go of one of my thighs and curled his fingers inwards, using the friction of his saliva and my wetness to rub my clit between his fingers; the simultaneous sensations of his tongue and his rubbing had me coming almost instantly. He groaned as he lapped up the wetness gushing out of my opening, a groan of a man at the edges of his control.

Almost instantly he was crawling back up my body, like some predator stalking his prey, coming down on top of me and taking his cock in his hand. Even seconds after I'd just had an orgasm, the sight of him giving himself a few quick pumps because he was so desperate for release, made me wrap my arms around his neck and fit his body urgently to mine.

I was surprised when instead of plunging straight into me, he paused, craning his neck back slightly so he could look me in the eye. "I love you," he told me, breathlessly, but still very serious. "Know that please."

"I know, my Edward." Satisfied I was aware of this crucial fact, he became unrestrained, aligning himself with my opening and thrusting smoothly in, making both of us cry out. Once his full length was stretching me, he paused, shuddering and whimpering as he tried to control himself.

"Please, please," I sobbed wantonly, unthinkingly, trying to move my hips to create some friction. Finally, after what felt like hours, he let out a ragged breath and began moving, rolling his hips as he began a slow, sliding rhythm. But it wasn't long before I became impatient for more, clawing at his back, trying to urge him on. He pounded me harder in response, the slick sound of his cock moving inside me, of our limbs coming together, of our harsh breathing, deafening in the darkness.

"Like that?" He grunted, his hands holding my hips off the bed so he could thrust harder, faster. "Is this what you wanted? Me owning you?"

Everything but my head and shoulders was being held off the bed, my body curving into a delicious arch so he could pump into me at his own pace. I had to smack my palms flat on the bed and use them for leverage so I could finally grind back against him. His eyes rolled back in his head when I did and his hips shot forward harder.

"Is this what youwanted?" I taunted him as I thrust up again, loving the way his eyes narrowed dangerously. "_Me_ owning _you_?"

With an exhilarating strength he pulled out of me, his swollen cock dripping in my juices and his pre-cum. My body fell back onto the bed; but I wasn't there for long, as he yanked me back up by the waist and flipped me onto my stomach.

I was panting for breath as he came down on top of me, grinding his pelvis into my back and biting down, hard, on my ear. "Tell me you want my cock inside you and you'll get it," he spat down at me, thrusting against my ass and wriggling his hands underneath me so he could tug at my nipples.

I shuddered underneath him, but with his body pressing me into the bed so completely, I had no bargaining chips to use besides my words.

"Tell me _now_, Angel." He ordered when I did nothing but whimper, shoving his hand down my slick stomach until he found my sopping wet folds. "Tell me and I'll even let you cum on my dick. Won't that be a treat?"

It was one thing to compromise in our relationship; it was an entirely different matter for me to compromise during sex. Unlike in our relationship, if I let him win now, he'd be making me a begging, slobbering mess until I could tip the scales. But he was rubbing his fingers over my clit in a manner that was making me dizzy, and I figured endless orgasms were a small price to pay for him being a little smug for the next few days.

Even then, when I turned my head so I could see his frantic, horny eyes, I made sure I purred the words in the sexiest manner possible.

"Please, Edward, I want you thick, hard cock in me."

His teeth bit into my shoulder in victory, his hands coming up to my hips and yanking them up. "On your elbows, please." He commanded roughly, struggling to get the words out over the growl that was building in his chest.

I was shaking as I tried to raise myself onto my forearms, and with an impatient sound Edward did it for me, manipulating my body and wasting no time in thrusting back into me. I clench my muscles around him, pressing my cheeks into the pillow in front of me at the intense feeling of his hips flush against mine.

"I belong in you Bella. I'm going to fuck you everyday for the rest of our lives." He gasped behind me, and with my head turned I could see him in my peripheral vision, his head thrown back in ecstasy, the cords in his neck standing out, as he pulled out of me and drove back in. "I love you so fucking much…"

I wanted to return his sentiments, but with something similar to a war cry, he began to piston his hips in a bruising rhythm, robbing me of my ability for speech. When he began angling his hips so he could rub against that special spot inside me, I veered into orgasm so suddenly that I howled his name into my pillow, trying to muffle my cries.

He made another impatient sound and turned my head to the side, bucking against me at such a frantic pace that I knew he was close to his own release. "Scream again…for me…" he grunted, circling my beyond sensitive clit with his thumb.

I was still trembling from the effects of coming once, so the intensity of him fumbling with my clit had me fulfilling his wishes, screaming incoherently for him once more.

"Yes…" he sobbed behind me, as he shoved harder into me, so fast that it was making me feel manic. "Cum again…oh please, cum…cum with me…"

When my body clenched around his cock in my second climax, he roared unintelligibly, fingers digging into my hips as he twitched and released deep inside me.

We collapsed together against the bed, limbs quivering and breathing harsh. As always, I was the first to break our post-coital silence, a side effect of my multiple-orgasms euphoria. Edward called my personality after sex "annoyingly chatty" and said he put up with it only because I showed him my boobies.

"Well." I huffed, as he slid out of me. We were both sweaty, sticky messes, but I had a feeling round two was not far away. After all, no way was I letting Edward off the hook until I had him begging. "At least we know the sex is never going to get boring."

He laughed weakly, and snuggled into me, until we were in our favorite resting position; his head pillowed on my chest, his arms tight around me and my hands in his hair. "I don't think _any _part of my life with you will ever be boring."

"Talking about not being boring, I really think we should move our status from "in a relationship" to "engaged" again." I suggested, in a fake-casual voice. And even though I was springing the idea on him, I knew we were more then ready.

Edward huffed against my nipple, which unsurprisingly hardened at the sensation. "But I had a whole plan this time. I was going to take you to a private island near Bora Bora, butter you up with several days worth of orgasms, and just serenade the shit out of you on a moonlit beach."

I rolled my eyes as this even as I arched at the feeling of his mouth suddenly sucking on my hardened nipple. "Sorry, stud," I gasped. "You'll have to save that for the honeymoon. Just give me back your ring, we'll get Esme and Alice to plan an engagement party, and get used to waking up to me for the rest of your life…though we should probably hold off on an actual wedding until I graduate in a year. Just so my dad doesn't come after you with a shot gun."

"This is ridiculous." Edward growled, once he'd replaced his mouth with both of his hands. I could tell he wanted to be annoyed that I was ruining his grand plan, but there was nothing but unadulterated joy in his eyes. "But since I can apparently deny you _nothing_, alright."

I gave a little shrug and said nonchalantly, "oh…well if it's such a hardship for you then-"

"NO!" He interrupted loudly, sheepishly, his hands coming up to cup my face as he grinned. "I was kidding. I love you, Bella. The idea of my ring on your finger makes me ecstatic."

My wide smile matched his as I gauged the adoration and worship in his eyes. "I love you, too." I assured him, because telling him that was as natural as breathing.

"Good. Now that we've gotten that out of the way…" Edward moved so our foreheads were pressed together. "I think I made a promise…something about making you forget your own name before tomorrow." He gave me a kiss on the nose and a devilish wink. "And I'm _all_ about keeping my promises, Angel."

**

* * *

So…Yeah. **

**How's that for a lot of Edward naked? **

**Epilogue should be up in a few days, pretty please show me some lovin' and review! **


	46. Epilouge

**I know I'm usually a sarcastic shit in these Authors notes, but I'd like to sincerely thank you so much for reading HPA and taking your time to review (thus making me feel like a million dollars)! **

**And just to address this question, I probably won't be attempting a sequel to this, but I may do a few one shots.**

***sniffles* this is it, my lovelies. **

* * *

**BPOV.**

"Isabella Marie Swan!"

The crowd exploded into good-natured cheers as, with shaky legs, I made my way onto the graduation stage. The Dean of the Business Faculty, and then the Dean of the University, shook my hand. Both of them looked like they wanted a stiff drink – which was understandable, considering how many graduating students hands they had shook today. The Dean of Business wouldn't look me in the eye – making me wonder whether he remembered I was the girl Carlisle Cullen had tried to get a scholarship for a year ago.

The Dean's pretty assistant handed me my diploma and smiled at me indulgently as I shifted the tassel on my graduation cap.

I had officially graduated.

No my students, no more books, no more teachers dirty looks. I could understand what Alice Cooper was talking about. School was out, and I was a societal approved and accepted adult. That would have scared the crap out of me, but as I scanned over the students and staff, I found the families of students and knew I would never be alone.

There was an entire row of people dedicated to me, all of them looking up at me with pride and love. Alice and Jasper were at one end, Jasper's arm thrown lazily around Alice, who was sobbing uncontrollably into his shirt. I couldn't help but shake my head in exasperation. She had cried at pretty much every milestone in our lives, so I was far from surprised.

Next to them were Rose and Emmett, both of whom were wolf whistling in the wake of my name being called. I swear to God, they were responsible for 90% of the crowd's noise. Next to Emmett, my dad Charlie was looking at Emmett as if he was a nutcase, unsurprisingly considering he had just started hollering like he was at a freakin' baseball match or something. Mom was in a similar state to Alice, clutching to Dad and sniffling. Geesh. You'd think they were at my funeral.

Angela was sitting next to Mom, looking incredibly uncomfortable even as she smiled kindly. This was one of her first public outings with the Cullen family, and I knew she was worried about exposure. She had decided to wait until her son was old enough to make an informed decision before publicly announcing he was a Cullen or not. Surprisingly enough, Esme was sitting next to her, and even from here I could see she had a reassuring hand on her forearm. She was also smirking, in a typical Esme fashion, as she sat between Carlisle and the mother of Carlisle newest son. I shook my head again. I would _never _understand Esme's (or, by extension, Emmett's) sense of humor.

Carlisle was oblivious to this, too busy cooing at chubby baby Ben, who was sitting contently in his favorite brothers's arms. Since Carlisle and Edward, not to mention the rest of the Cullen family, had sat down and worked through their differences (I'm fairly certain more punching had been involved), it hadn't taken long for all of them to bond over the cuteness that was their newest family member.

Edward was holding Ben securely against his stomach, his hands crossed over Ben's round belly and his chin resting on Ben's head. I felt my ovaries come alive at the sight of Edward and Ben, as they always did. It was like someone flipped a switch from _Off _to _Edward-Impregnate-Me-Now-Please_. But more important then my overactive ovaries was the look in Edward eyes.

He wasn't cheering or crying. He was simply looking at me with the fiercest mix of pride, love and adoration written all over his face – and I knew – I _knew_, that he hadn't taken his eyes off me the entire ceremony, even when I was in my seat and he could only see the back of my head.

Time suddenly couldn't pass quickly enough, as a burning need to be wrapped up in Edward's arms consumed me. The moment they released us from the stage, I was knocking my way through the crowd, oblivious to the flying graduation caps that had been thrown into the air. I was met half way by a bone-crushing hug, and looked down to see Alice had wrapped herself around me like a pretzel, shortly joined by Rose, who wrapped her arms around both of us.

Rose and I rolled eyes at each other over Alice's head as we swayed in our six-armed hug-fest. Neither Rose nor I were that emotional about ceremonies or similar pomp, but Alice cried at everything; from weddings to the movie _Armageddon_.

"Oh Bella! I'm so proud! Promise me we'll be friends forever!" Alice wailed, getting snot over my graduation gown.

"Cripes, Al," Rose huffed, patting her head like a dog, (a habit she'd picked up from Emmett, the condescending ass), "we're all marrying into the same family. I spent more time around you two now then when we lived together. I think you should be more concerned about the three of us getting sick of each other."

We took a moment to look into each other's eyes. I thought about the great life I had had, and how the two girls hugging me had been there every step of the way, through thick or thin. I thought about my future, Christmas in the Cullen house, our giant family sitting around, a drunk Jasper in a Santa costume handing out presents. Actually, that had happened last Christmas, but I thought it was a fair indication of years to come. I thought about the life that was growing inside Rose's womb, about the wedding I would be attending next week, about whether Jasper would cry when Alice reached him at the altar.

I don't know whether she was thinking the same thoughts as I, but Rose began sobbing like a wanker the same moment I did.

"See!" Alice wept into my shoulder, as we all clutched each other tightly, "I knew you both felt it!"

Emmett and Jasper arrived only a few minutes later, pushing through the crowding and laughing their insensitive asses off at the sight of us.

"Goober, what's with the tears?" Emmett boomed, clapping me on the back and practically making my knees buckle. "You're all grown up now, Miss. Graduate."

"Ha!" Jasper grinned; gently untangling Alice from the hug as Emmett did the same to Rose. "She's just upset that she'll have to marry our esteemed little brother now. You know how those two were waiting till' she graduated."

"Bite me, Jazz." I growled at him, my mean attitude ruined by the fact that I pulled both him and Emmett into a hug. "Maybe I'm crying cause I've got to be stuck with _you_ as a brother-in-law for the rest of my bloody life."

Emmett and Jasper hugged me back tightly, Emmett pressing a rare, gentle kiss to my cheek and Jasper whispering to me, "proud of you, my soon-to-be little sister."

Okay. Rose, Emmett, Jasper, and Alice looking at me like the loved me and were immensely proud and wanted to get into a five-way hug was more then my tear ducts could handle right now.

"I'm going to go find the olds, I'll see you all back at Edward's for this stupid party." I told them, wanting to run off before I started snotting up like Alice.

"Bella!" Alice growled over her shoulder I pushed further through the crowd, "_NO _party thrown by me is ever stupid, young lady!"

Great. Offending Alice probably meant I'd be on coat-taking duty all night.

I found Charlie, Carlisle and Renee chatting near their seats. Esme and Angela were wrestling a very reluctant Ben into his portable buggy, while he screamed "E-WARD!" at the top of his little lungs.

Mom and Dad engulfed me the moment I was with them, and I knew, out of every well-wisher here, nobody was as proud as they were.

"Bella," Renee whispered in my ear, "you've done so well for yourself. That's all any mom ever wants – for her child to grow up and have more then she did. I'm in awe of you, baby."

I felt that traitorous lump reform in my throat as my dad told me he loved me and as they made their way to their car. I could see it in both of them – how very glad they were that I had made it here, to graduation. I saw it in them last night, as we sat around a dinner table with the Cullen's, Alice and Rose, how glad they would have been even if I _hadn't_ made it here – as long as I was happy.

Carlisle cleared his throat, and I realized I'd forgotten he was standing right in next to me.

"Congratulations, Bella," he told me in his soft voice.

"Thanks, Daddy-C." I grinned at him, earning me an irritated huff. Since Rose and Alice had found out my nickname for Carlisle, they had both adopted it too, annoying the crap out of him.

"Yes, well, I know things haven't always been good between us, and I just wanted to say, that…" Carlisle cleared his throat again, no doubt about to make apology number 1018.

"Seriously, C-Man, it's all in the past." I told him, honestly. "Edward and I were stronger because of it, and we're together forever now."

I felt a familiar presence behind me, and arms wrapping around my middle. I wonder if my insecure man had heard that last declaration. His lips on my neck told me that _yes, yes he had_.

"I thought I'd give you a few minutes to let everyone congratulate you, Sweetheart," he whispered into my throat, "because now I have you in my arms, I have no plans of letting you go."

Now Carlisle was clearing his throat out of discomfort, still unused to Edward's overzealous public affections towards me.

"I'm glad that's the case, Bella." Carlisle began, trying in vain to ignore Edward. "I was a fool for comparing your relationship to the mistake Ang and I made together, even if I did gain a wonderful little boy from that. I'm so glad to see my family, with so many new members happy and…and…_EDWARD_!" Carlisle broke off from his emotional little speech, rolling his eyes to the heavens due to the behavior of his youngest son.

"Ignore him, C-Unit. I know I do." I told Carlisle calmly, even as Edward's dexterous hands snuck inside the front of my robe and splayed over my hips. His mouth was on my neck, all teeth and tongue and the occasional joyful sigh.

"We'll see how well you can "ignore me", when I _really_ put my mind to things, my Angel." Edward whispered huskily against my ear, before again attacking my neck, this time with a renewed zeal.

"Um, and anyway," Carlisle began again, but he gave another snort of outrage as Esme sidled up to us. "Edward, that's going to leave a mark!"

"I think that's the idea, honey." Esme said, grinning at me. Out of the Carlisle she and myself, Esme was the only one who was successfully ignoring the nipping teeth now at my jaw.

"He was her employer, that's incredibly inappropriate behavior in front of Bella's professors, what if she gets in trouble?" Carlisle ranted, even as he allowed Esme to begin steering him away.

"Don't be such a prude, Papa-C!" I called after them, "And we'll see you tonight!"

I giggled and relaxed back into Edward arms, feeling his erection pressed into my back. Honestly, the man's ability to get a boner anywhere was somewhat frightening. "You're not my employer anymore, Edward." I purred as he devoured my neck, "So what do plan on doing to me?"

He flipped me around; brining me face-to-face with the happiest, most dazzling smile I'd ever seen him wear. "I may not be your employer, but I can think of some wonderful scenarios in which you can call me Mr. Cullen."

I laughed provocatively and tugged on his tie, bringing his face close to mine. "Is that right?" I asked him, burying my hands in his hair.

"Mmm." He hummed against my lips. "And pretty soon I'll be able to call you _Mrs_. Cullen."

"Soon," I agreed, automatically fingering my engagement ring. "But don't think your going to distract me from the fact that you haven't told me what my graduation present is…"

"I have just four words for you, my little graduate…" He whispered, taking my cap off and cradling the back of my head. "Me…you…Bora Bora."

Several day's worth of orgasms and being serenaded on a moonlit beach?

Whoever said school was the best years of your life had obviously never met Edward Cullen.

**The End. **

**

* * *

**

**I feel kinda stupid writing "the end", but hey, just in case it isn't blindingly obvious, right?**

**I'll add a chapter notice to the end of HPA letting you know when my next story has started; I'd love for ya'll to read it! **

**Thanks for reading, **

**Lots of Love, **

**NorthernLights17 **

**:)**


End file.
